The Pretty Little 100
by pamplemousse46
Summary: Normally, I'm not a fan of crossovers, but I thought of this one and couldn't get it out of my mind! Try it. ;) Please review/comment/let me know if you have feedback – would love to make it better. When their rival high schools merge, students from Rosewood Day, Arkadia Academy, and Polis High must learn to be classmates, teammates, friends – and, for some of them, maybe more.
1. Chapter 1: Everyone

Chapter 1: Everyone

"This is unacceptable!" Spencer Hastings shouted, her voice ringing out above the buzzing in the Rosewood High School gym.

"Spencer, please. Sit down and we can discuss this," said Vice Principal Hackett, who was on the stage with a short brunette woman Spencer didn't recognize.

"Did she actually just stomp her foot?" said Hanna Marin to Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields, giggling. Spencer was one of their best friends, but Hanna would never understand why she got so uptight about stuff like this. Emily hid a smile from Spencer, and Aria fluffed her ostrich-feather earrings.

"Did she actually just stomp her foot?" said Raven Reyes to Clarke Griffin and Octavia Blake, quirking an eyebrow in that special way only Raven had, the way that clearly meant "bitch, please!" Clarke's mouth slanted in a smirk, and Octavia just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Rich kids.

Lexa and Lincoln stood in the back. They exchanged a look, and Lexa pursed her lips disapprovingly. They both knew that outbursts like this were not the product of a strong mind.

It was the week before school started, and all incoming high school students had been invited to a special assembly. "Invited" was perhaps not a strong enough word, as the flier had made it clear this was a mandatory meeting. (Although Spencer questioned the legality of a mandatory meeting on school property during what was technically still summer vacation.)

Hackett had just welcomed everyone and then wasted no time dropping the bombshell: Due to budget constraints, no fewer than _three_ local high schools would be forced to merge in the upcoming school year.

Despite being close neighbors, the three schools each had a unique flavor and attracted a different type of student.

Rosewood High School was the largest and most affluent – even though it was a public high school, its students hailed from the largely well-to-do suburb of Rosewood, and sizeable private donations were not uncommon. Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily were seniors who had all been attending Rosewood High since their freshman year. (Except when Aria lived in Iceland, randomly.)

Arkadia Academy was a private school, a science and technology magnet with a mix of students: those from affluent families who could handle the hefty tuition, and those who had earned merit-based scholarships for pursuing careers in science or technology. Many of Arkadia's graduates went on to become doctors, engineers, or computer programmers. Clarke, Raven and Octavia all hailed from Arkadia, where Clarke was a senior and Octavia was a junior. Raven had graduated a couple of years earlier, but the three of them were still inseparable.

Polis High School was another public high school, located in a working-class suburb. Their various sports teams (nicknamed "The Grounders") were well known for their ferocity on the field. Lexa and Lincoln were proud attendees of Polis High.

"Vice Principal Hackett," Spencer was saying, somewhat haughtily. "This was presented as an open forum for discussion, and I have several thoughts on this proposed merger."

"The man said sit down, Princess!" called a voice from near the back. Spencer whirled, spotting a boy she didn't recognize. He had dark curly hair, tan skin, and a cocky smirk that she wanted to punch off his stupid face. Spencer opened her mouth to retort, but her friends pulled her down into her seat. "Spencer, this isn't the way to get your voice heard," Emily whispered urgently.

Spencer huffed, but stayed in her seat, allowing her friends to calm her down somewhat. She gestured imperiously for Hackett to continue.

"As I was saying," he began, "what could have been a time of distress for our region has become a time of great opportunity. We will be merging not only the student bodies –" [Raven snickered loudly at this, and Octavia grinned] "but our administration, sports teams, and special programs as well."

He turned and gestured to the brunette woman on stage with him. "In fact, it's my great pleasure to announce that as part of the merger, Rosewood High will have a new principal: Abigail Griffin, who until recently was the principal at Arkadia Academy." There was light applause as Principal Griffin went to the microphone.

"Shit, really?" said Raven. Clarke whacked her on the arm. "Shut up, that's my mother! Would you rather we get stuck with some snobby Rosewood principal?"

"Whatever, you don't even like her," mumbled Raven, rubbing her arm.

"Good evening, everyone," said Principal Griffin. "I'm honored and humbled that the school board appointed me to lead this new venture."

She scanned the crowd and found Clarke. "I'm especially excited because my own daughter is starting her senior year, and we'll be making this journey together."

Clarke groaned quietly and sank a little lower in her seat. Only Raven noticed the hurt look that flashed across Abby's – Principal Griffin's – eyes for an instant, before she recovered her composure.

Hanna was bored. "I have to pee," she whispered to her friends, then climbed over them and headed for the aisle. She didn't really care what was happening with the school – new people meant new distractions, and she'd take anything that helped her keep her mind off Caleb. Speaking of, where was he? Hanna scanned the crowd from side to side as she made her way to the exit, so she was taken completely by surprise when right near the exit, she tripped over someone's foot.

Strong arms instantly reached out and caught her before she could hit the floor. Ooh, _very_ strong arms, thought Hanna as she instinctively grabbed onto her rescuer. She looked up into his face – holy hottie! "Um…thanks," she stammered. "I was looking for someone, and I had to pee, and then I was walking, and then there was a foot, and arms, and…"

She trailed off. The new guy just regarded her calmly. She thought his eyes were maybe smiling a little. "No problem," he said as he let her go.

The girl next to him snorted. "Eyeliner much?" scoffed Hanna, gathering what was left of her dignity and finally making it out of the gym.

Meanwhile, Clarke was also missing most of her mom's speech. She'd heard it all before – unity, blah blah blah – it was pretty standard Abby stuff. She heard a minor disturbance and turned around. A blonde girl was clambering over her friends, heading for the aisle.

One of her friends looked up at Clarke then, and Clarke's heart stuttered. The girl was absolutely stunning – long, dark hair, dark almond-shaped eyes, and those cheekbones…Clarke was thoroughly distracted now. The girl smiled shyly at her and even gave a little wave. Clarke half-smiled in return, and then her attention was caught elsewhere as the blonde girl stumbled and fell into the arms of a tattooed guy at the very back of the gym.

Clarke couldn't hear what they were saying, but she watched anyway. It was more interesting than whatever her mom was going on about. The dark-haired girl next to the guy seemed to laugh at the blonde girl, and then blondie must have said something to piss the other girl off because her head snapped up – and in that moment, she happened to lock eyes with Clarke.

The intensity in her gaze was hypnotic – Clarke had never seen anything like it. It was the gaze of someone far older and wiser than anyone in high school could hope to be. The girl stared back at Clarke for a minute, and then Octavia stood up beside her and slunk out of her chair, and the moment was broken.

Also meanwhile: "Who are you waving at?" snapped Spencer. Emily looked at her, wide-eyed and guilty, though she didn't know why. "Just trying to make new friends," she mumbled. New, super cute, probably straight friends, she thought, sighing to herself. Between school, swim practice, and her job at The Brew, it wasn't like she actually had time to meet anyone, so what was the point?

Octavia crept quietly up the aisle. She needed some air.

There was a muscular, tattooed guy partly blocking the door. "Excuse me," Octavia hissed at him. He stepped out of the way, watching her coolly. Probably a gym rat, football-playing loser, she thought.

She walked outside and around a corner of the building, then leaned against the wall, looking up at the evening sky.

"Hey, you got a light?" said a voice right beside her. Octavia whirled, her fists up.

"Whoa, easy there!" laughed the guy who had asked her for a light. "I'm not trying to kidnap you or anything." He held up his hands in the universal sign for 'I come in peace.'

"I don't smoke," snapped Octavia.

"Yeah, me either," said the guy. "I was just looking for an excuse to talk to you."

Octavia scowled at him. "That's pretty lame."

He shrugged good-naturedly and brushed his dark hair out of his eyes, leaning against the wall next to her and turning his head to look at her. "I'm Caleb, by the way."

"Octavia."

"Cool name," he said. "So what are you doing out here, anyway? Shouldn't you be in there learning about this big merger?"

Octavia said, "It was pretty boring, just my old principal droning on about unity and whatever. Needed some air." She straightened up. "I should get back to my friends though."

"See you around," said Caleb. But she was already around the corner and out of sight.

In the auditorium, Principal Griffin was wrapping up her remarks as Octavia snuck back in and made her way to her seat. Clarke was scanning the room, probably sizing up the people who would be their classmates this year. But Raven seemed to be paying close attention, which was weird. They both acknowledged her as she slid back into her seat, Raven with a nod and Clarke with a tight smile.

"Now, we'd like to offer you the opportunity for some open discussion," the principal was saying. "Please make your way to one of the microphones if you have something to say."

Bellamy wasn't surprised to see that the snobby brunette from earlier was the first one to rush to a microphone. She jumped right in: "Spencer Hastings, Rosewood High. As I was saying earlier, this proposed merger is unfair. It could jeopardize the academic futures of those of us who have Ivy League ambitions if all of a sudden, all these other GPAs are thrown into the mix!"

Jesus, she talked like a middle-aged soccer mom. How was it possible that they were close to the same age, much less going to the same school, thought Bellamy with some scorn.

Lexa was similarly unimpressed. She wasn't thrilled at the prospect of having to change schools, let alone the inconvenience of a longer bus ride. But she could see that the decision was already made, and she realized that it was in everyone's best interests to put their petty objections to rest and figure out a way to move forward. From the way people were murmuring, though, few of them shared her rational frame of mind.

"I agree with Spencer," said an older man near the front, standing at another microphone. Lexa could see a red-haired girl sitting near him shrink down in her seat, as if she were trying to become invisible. "Nick McCullers here. What about athletics? My daughter was practically guaranteed to be captain of the swim team this year, and now all of a sudden she has to compete with these…Grounders? That's not fair!"

Paige was mortified as her father spoke. She hadn't even told him that she'd be captain – she knew there were no guarantees, and if anything Emily probably deserved it more. Now he was embarrassing her in front of the whole school – again. And she didn't see Ezra around to talk him down this time.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, clear and even, silencing everyone even though the speaker wasn't at a microphone. "We are what we are."

Almost as one, the assembled group turned to face Lexa. She took a step forward now and addressed them as one. "Grounders…the Sky Crew from Arkadia Academy…the Sharks of Rosewood High. We carry these names proudly, even if we're all under one roof. There's history there, and we _should_ be proud of it, whether it's academic or athletic or artistic." Lexa looked at the red-haired girl who had been embarrassed by her father and gave her a reassuring nod.

As she spoke, she continued to look around, reading the room, seeking out disbelievers and potential allies.

"But we're all part of one crew now. And no one should be looked down on for their course of study –" here she locked eyes with the brunette at the microphone, who nodded a bit grudgingly – "or for their previous mascot." Here she looked at the older man at the other microphone, who was seething.

"We're all one team now. And we should continue to recognize the leaders, the standouts, the hard workers. Perhaps we will all inspire one another to work for even greater things."

Her eyes fell on the girl with long blonde hair then, the one who had held her gaze with such strength earlier. She saw understanding in those blue eyes. "But we must work _together._ "

Principal Griffin was the first to applaud. Then the girl with the long blonde hair, and then her friends, and soon almost everyone but the angry man and a few others had joined in. Lexa nodded, acknowledging all of them, and returned to her spot against the wall.

Hanna walked back in the door then and noticed that everyone was facing the back of the room and clapping. She leaned over to Lincoln, who stood proudly by his friend after her speech. "Wow! I've never gotten a standing ovation for coming back from the bathroom before!"

After that, the discussion took a much more productive tone, with people raising good questions about how GPA would be calculated across the different scales (which mollified Spencer somewhat) and what the new mascot would be (still TBD, subject to a vote). Then Principal Griffin announced that there were snacks and punch in the cafeteria, an opportunity for everyone to mingle more informally for the first time.

Everyone filed out, most people heading for the cafeteria now that tensions had cooled somewhat. Lexa remained in her spot near the door, nodding at those who said hello to her. Suddenly, the red-haired girl from before was right in front of her. She grasped Lexa's hand briefly and said quietly in her ear, "I loved your speech. Thank you."

"Paige!" called her father, the angry one. The girl looked shyly at Lexa, embarrassed again now, and Lexa said with a small smile, "I'll see you again soon…Paige." She regarded Paige's father coolly as he pulled his daughter away.

Then Lexa nodded to Lincoln, and together they left to catch a bus home. The meeting was one thing, but they didn't have time to stay for a party.

In the cafeteria, things were still a little awkward but much more congenial than before. Lexa's speech had broken the ice, but people were still naturally clustered with their own friends.

Spencer and Hanna were at the snack table. "Han, you want a cupcake?" Spencer asked, grabbing a vanilla one for herself. Hanna gave her a look. "Are you kidding me, Spencer? Cupcakes?"

"Oh, right…my bad," said Spencer, grinning at her sheepishly as she remembered the Lucky Leon's incident. She held up a carrot stick. "Peace offering?"

Bellamy had been on his way over to grab a snack, but then he saw the snobby brunette from earlier and actually stopped short. He didn't know whether he wanted to confront her or just outright avoid her – all he knew was that she rubbed him the wrong way.

But then she smiled at her friend, and her whole face lit up, and then he just stared at her like a moron. Jeez, Bellamy, get a grip, he said to himself. He took a breath and walked over confidently, and as she held up a carrot stick and said "Peace offering?" he snatched it and popped it in his mouth, saying "Thanks, Princess, but you and me still aren't at peace."

He winked at her and sauntered off. Always leave 'em wanting more, he thought, and grinned to himself.

"You and _I_!" Spencer yelled after him, but he didn't seem to hear her.

Hanna looked ecstatic. "What was _that_?" she said, grabbing Spencer's upper arm. Spencer turned back to face her. "I assume one of the Sky Crew, given that we know he doesn't go here and he wasn't standing with that…commander lady at the back of the gym."

"No," said Hanna, removing her hand from Spencer's arm, "what was that between the two of you? Because there was definitely a spark."

Spencer gave her the Spencer look. "There was _not_ a spark."

Undeterred, Hanna went on: "There was so! And you guys are going to have little dark-haired, angry-eyed, butt-chinned kids –" She only stopped because Spencer had popped a mini muffin in her mouth to shut her up and then stalked off. Hanna shrugged and said "Mmm, blueberry!"

Clarke had been hoping to meet the mysterious girl whose words had united the crowd, but she didn't see her in the cafeteria and headed over to get some punch for herself and her friends. She managed to balance three cups in her hands, but as she turned, she ran smack into someone coming up to the punch table. "Oh, shit! I am _so_ sorry! I didn't mean to punch you!" she exclaimed as punch sloshed out of one of the cups…right onto the other girl's chest. Clarke hastily put the cups down, grabbed a pile of napkins, and started dabbing at the wet spot. "Shit shit shit!" she said.

"It's okay," said the girl she'd accidentally doused, laughter in her voice. "It wouldn't be the first time I've been punched."

Clarke looked up then and saw that (of course) it was the beautiful girl she'd seen earlier. "Um…I mean…actually no one's ever hit me, I just meant that people have spilled things on me…anyway, I'm Emily," she said, holding out a hand.

Clarke held up a fistful of wet napkins, and they both giggled. (What the hell, thought Clarke – since when do I giggle?) "Hi. I'm Clarke," she said. "I spill things on people."

"They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem," Emily said, her brown eyes sparkling. "So – are you from Arkadia or Polis? I know you don't go to Rosewood, because I do and I would know…" she trailed off, realizing she was babbling.

"Arkadia," Clarke said. "So you're from Rosewood, huh? What is there to do around here? I've only ever been for a field hockey tournament once, and we didn't have much free time."

"Well," said Emily, "There's not a ton to do. It's not like Philly or anything. Mostly there's one main street where all the restaurants in town are, and we have a lot of murders and stuff." Here Clarke looked at her questioningly. "It's kind of a long story," Emily sighed. Then she looked at Clarke shyly. "I work at a coffee shop called The Brew. Maybe you could stop by sometime and I could show you around after work?"

Clarke grinned. This was more like it. She hadn't dated anyone since Finn, and that was over a year ago. There just hadn't been time. But Emily was sweet, and seemed really unaffected by her own beauty, and Clarke found that fascinating. "Yeah…I'd like that," she said.

Emily looked over to where Raven and Octavia stood, waiting. "Well, I'll let you get back to your friends. Or…to spilling punch on people, or whatever you Sky Crew do for fun." Clarke laughed at that. "Yeah, I should refill these and get back to them," she said. "It was nice to meet you, Emily."

Emily smiled and went back to her friends, still dabbing at her shirt. Clarke topped off the punch cups and brought them over to Raven and Octavia.

"Dude, what the hell was that?" Raven exclaimed as soon as she got over there. "We're here 5 seconds and already you're hitting on some Rosewood chick?"

Clarke said, "Hey! I wasn't hitting on her. That's Emily. I spilled punch all over her, and she was super cool about it." But she smirked, and that was a dead giveaway. Octavia and Raven would never let her hear the end of this now. "Take your damn cups and shut up," Clarke grumbled affectionately.

"I met a guy," said Octavia, out of nowhere.

Clarke and Raven both looked down at her. She was the smallest of them by far – but in many ways, the fiercest of a pretty fierce crew. "Does big bro know you have the hots for someone?" Raven teased.

"I didn't say I had the hots for him! I talked to him for like a minute," said Octavia, a little defensively. "I went outside for some air and he was just…there."

"Cool story, O," said Raven, and Octavia took a swipe at her. "Aw, you're so cute when you're angry! Like a tiny angry gerbil!" Octavia pretended to kick her in the shin. "Whatever, little one, I'm going to go do a lap and see who's cool around here," said Raven.

She sauntered off, grabbing a couple of carrot sticks and a cupcake as she passed the snack table. "Miss Reyes, there you are," said a smoky voice behind her. Raven didn't have to turn around to know who it was. She mentally rolled her eyes and prepared to act normal.

"Principal Griffin!" she said with fake enthusiasm, turning to face her. "What a lovely surprise! Now I have the pleasure of you busting my balls at not one, but _two_ schools."

Abby looked a little hurt at that. "Raven – a, you graduated two years ago, and b, I've never intended to 'bust your balls,' as you so delicately put it."

Raven snorted. "Really."

Abby stepped closer so that only Raven could hear. "After everything that happened three years ago…I just want to help you achieve your potential." Raven raised an eyebrow at her, not saying anything, standing her ground. She popped a carrot stick in her mouth.

Abby stepped back and sighed. She was one of only a handful of people who knew the truth about why Raven had repeated her junior year. She was a brilliant girl with so much potential, and Abby wished she could see herself the way Abby saw her. She tried again. "Thank you for giving her a ride tonight," Abby said. "I knew I might end up having to stay late, and we only have the one car, and…"

"It's not a problem," said Raven abruptly, shifting her feet.

Abby looked her evenly then, ignoring the way her temperature rose as their eyes met. "You haven't come around the house much lately," she said quietly. "Clarke misses you."

"Clarke sees me all the time," said Raven.

Abby swallowed. "Well…maybe I miss you, then," she said quietly, and she walked away.

Raven stood there, feeling completely unmoored, like she did after every encounter with Abby these days.

"So, when you said 'see who's cool around here,' you meant…my mom?" teased Clarke, coming up behind her.

"Ha," said Raven without much enthusiasm. "Yeah, I guess you're right. There's no one cool here. Let's bounce." She noticed that Clarke was smiling at that Emily girl from before. "Or did you want to stay? Maybe spill some more punch on some more girls' chests?"

Clarke smacked her on the arm. "SERIOUSLY, you guys have to stop hitting me!" Raven exclaimed. "Why do I have such violent friends?" Clarke put an affectionate arm around her shoulders, they beckoned Octavia over, and the three of them left Rosewood High together.


	2. Chapter 2: Spencer

**Note** : A guest reviewer asked if I had a pairing planned for Hanna. Great question! I realized I've been playing up my favorite pairings more than others. Here's the plan, if you're interested:

-Spencer/Bellamy

-Emily/Clarke (eventual Clexa endgame)

-Lexa/Paige (eventual Clexa endgame)

-Abby/Raven (I'm team DoctorMechanic all the way!)

-Hanna/Lincoln (eventual Octavia/Lincoln endgame)

-Caleb/Octavia (eventual Octavia/Lincoln endgame)

-Aria/Ezra (but I'm not that into them, honestly)

Spencer was deep in thought as she walked to her first day of senior year.

And by 'deep in thought,' she mused, she meant 'stressing like hell, as usual.'

She had woken up, unsurprisingly, to an empty house. Peter had moved out months ago, and Veronica often headed to work before Spencer got up. At least she'd made the coffee, though.

Well, when you feel out of control, make a list, Spencer thought. She began to mentally compile a list of things that were currently making her feel out of control:

-Her valedictorian status was in doubt. Who knew what kinds of grade inflation went on at the other schools?

-She would have more competition for captain of the field hockey team.

-Probably more competition for her extracurriculars, too – academic decathlon, et al.

-Basically, everything on which she currently hung her hat had the potential for interlopers to ruin everything.

Spencer sighed as Rosewood High came into view. Senior year and she felt more out of control than ever.

Just then, Emily pulled up on her bike. "Hey!" Emily said, smiling as she chained up her bike. "Wait – I know that face. That's your 'compiling a list of things that are making me feel out of control' face."

Spencer had to chuckle at that. "You know me so well," she said, nudging Emily's shoulder with hers.

Emily linked arms with her. "Spence – whatever this year brings, we'll face it forever. We always do."

They spotted Hanna and Aria waiting on the steps and Emily waved to them. Spencer unlinked their arms. "You go ahead. I'll catch up in a minute." Emily looked at her, concerned. "I'm fine, Em. I just need a minute to process." Emily nodded and hurried off to catch up with Hanna and Aria.

Spencer scanned the grounds. She saw a lot of familiar faces from her years at Rosewood: Lucas slouching against a wall, Caleb walking in a side door alone, Noel Kahn and Mike Montgomery and their lacrosse buddies joking loudly. She didn't see Mona or Alison, but they tended to make an entrance on their own time.

She also saw some new faces from the assembly the other night: two girls she thought were from Arkadia Academy, a short girl with long dark hair and a taller girl with long blonde hair, piling out of a car that looked old but well-tended-to and yelling something to their friend as she peeled out of the parking lot, flipping them off good-naturedly as she went.

She saw the two Polis High students who had held court from the back of the room: the tattooed guy with the muscles, and the captivating brunette who had made the speech that turned the tide of the whole conversation. They were walking from the direction of the bus stop.

As the two girls from Arkadia walked up the steps, the tall blonde nodded to Emily, and Spencer could see Emily's shy smile and the way she nervously tucked her hair behind one ear. Oh, Em, she thought, another one? Emily would never admit it, but she was kind of the biggest player of all of them.

Then the two from Polis reached the stairs, and this time it was Hanna who flirted, waggling her fingers at the tattooed guy. Spencer couldn't see his face, but he must have acknowledged her because after they walked past, Hanna pretended to swoon. Aria shook her head and rolled her eyes, and Spencer saw the brunette from Polis smack the tattooed guy on his arm with the back of her hand.

A loud noise from behind Spencer startled her, and she whirled around. Someone was pulling up on a motorcycle, and for a second her heart stopped as she thought 'Toby?' But of course it wasn't Toby, and Spencer couldn't help rolling her eyes as he climbed off the bike and took off his helmet – it was the cocky dark-haired guy from the assembly.

He caught her eye right away and grinned, then walked over to her confidently.

"Are you kidding me?" said Spencer. "A motorcycle? Do you even realize how much of a cliché you are right now?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he retorted, gesturing to her outfit. "Did you come here straight from a fox hunt?"

Undeterred, she pressed on. "Do you know the statistics about motorcycle deaths? They account for –"

"Thirteen percent of all motor vehicle deaths, over 4,000 deaths a year, yes – I know," he interrupted. "My little sister made sure I knew all the statistics. She hates the bike, won't even let me give her a ride to school, insists on catching a ride with her friends." He shrugged. "Her loss."

Then he held up the helmet. "Did _you_ know that helmets are 37% effective at preventing deaths, and 67% effective at preventing brain injuries?" He took a step closer and said, slowly and deliberately as he patted the helmet, "And that's what _this_ is."

Spencer refused to back down even though he was in her space. She tried and failed to think of a clever rejoinder, but she was finding his proximity and his assertiveness…distracting. And she hated it.

"So, you see, princess – I've done my homework." He grinned, seemingly aware of the effect he was having on her. "Maybe if you're nice, I'll help you with yours sometime."

And he sauntered off, leaving Spencer standing there gaping.

This was shaping up to be the worst first day of school ever.

She balled her hands into fists, composed herself, and went inside the school, noting absently that her friends were long gone from the steps.

One thing Spencer was actually looking forward to this year was the ability to set her own class schedule more, now that her basic requirements were out of the way. She was taking mostly AP classes and had even allowed herself a study hall.

The bell was just ringing as Spencer slipped inside her first classroom of the day. It was AP Calculus, and as she looked around the room she was unsurprised to see Andrew Campbell, Mona, the usual honors crowd.

There was only one seat left in the small classroom, and it was next to the tall blonde girl from Arkadia. Spencer sighed inwardly – she'd had about all the 'meeting new people' she could take for one day already, but she had no choice and headed over.

"Hey," said the girl with a half-smile as Spencer took her seat. "I'm Clarke."

"Spencer," she replied politely.

"Oh – you're Emily's friend, right?" said Clarke. Spencer nodded, remembering how Emily had done that hair-tuck thing on the steps this morning as Clarke walked by.

Her instinct was to say something protective, to explain what an amazing, damaged, strong young woman Emily was growing into, to threaten Clarke if her intentions were less than pure.

But then she looked into Clarke's blue eyes, and some instinct Spencer couldn't name told her that she could be trusted.

Interesting, Spencer thought, and she catalogued that thought for further examination later.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Clarke was saying. "Other than Emily, the Rosewood students haven't been super welcoming."

"Emily's special that way," Spencer said, allowing a tiny hint of protectiveness to creep into her voice. Then she softened a bit. "But the rest of them – us – will come around. Just give it time. It's like that girl in the back of the gym said: we're all part of the same crew now."

Clarke looked especially pensive at that. Spencer wished she could read minds because she would have loved to know what Clarke was thinking about in that moment.

But then their teacher started class, and the moment was lost.

The rest of Spencer's morning classes were fairly uneventful, and she found the rhythm and the return to academic rigor comforting.

It was still warm enough to sit outside, and she saw that her three best friends had already grabbed a table. Hanna waved her over, and Spencer sat down with a sigh.

"How's everyone's morning going?" she asked.

"Better than yours?" Hanna guessed. "What?" she said when they all looked at her. "Spencer only sighs like that when she's had to deal with too much change. Or when one of her nerd shows gets pre-empted for sports."

"It's the change thing," Spencer confirmed. "I mean, overall it's fine, but I still don't see how this is all going to play out."

"You mean, how it's going to affect your GPA?" Aria teased. Spencer shot her a look, and she held up her hands in a mocking gesture of peace.

"So, speaking of changing the subject," Spencer said, "Emily, I sat by your new friend in AP Calc today."

"Um, which new friend?" said Emily, all innocence even as her shy smile betrayed her.

"You know, your new platonic friend with the blonde hair and the blue eyes and the long legs?" Spencer teased, nodding in the direction of Clarke's table where she sat with Octavia.

"God, Spencer, it sounds like _you_ have a crush on her," said Hanna, grinning around a mouthful of yogurt.

Aria chimed in. "No, I think someone else has captured Spencer's attention."

Emily snorted. Hanna looked confused for a moment, then said "Oh yeah! Toby 2.0!"

They all looked at her. "What?" she said. "Oh, come on. The motorcycle, the dark hair, the chin dimple?"

"ANYWAY," Spencer said firmly, "at least to Clarke, I'm now officially just 'Emily's friend.'"

Emily grinned and looked down at the table. "She's…nice," she said.

Suddenly, Hanna reached out and grabbed Aria's arm. "Oh my god! There's Caleb!" she said. Aria said, "Ow. Fingernails. And Han – he does go to this school, you know."

Hanna's eyes were locked on Caleb like a laser as he walked by the table where Clarke and her little dark-haired friend were sitting. Her grip on Aria's arm tightened when he flashed a pearly white smile at Clarke's friend, who nodded curtly in return.

"Seriously, fingernails!" said Aria, prying Hanna's hand from her arm and rubbing the spot where Hanna had grabbed her.

Hanna looked around until her eyes fell on the tattooed guy from Polis High, who was sitting alone on a bench at the outskirts of the courtyard. "If you ladies will excuse me," she huffed, "I have a date." She strode over to the bench and flopped down next to him.

"Don't worry, we'll get your tray for you!" Spencer called after her.

Emily looked at Spencer and Aria. "You don't think she actually had a lunch date with that guy, do you?" All three of them burst out laughing as Spencer and Aria said "Noo!" in unison.

Spencer looked at her watch. "Shoot, I have to run!" She had figured out a way to cram one more class in her day, but it meant that she had a shortened lunch period.

Emily was already stacking up Hanna and Spencer's trash on her own tray. "I got this, Spence," she said with a smile.

"You're the best!" said Spencer, and she hurried back inside.

Her afternoon classes went fine. She was still enjoying the familiar feeling of running from class to class, feeling slightly overwhelmed but letting her brain stretch and wake up after the languor of summer. She saw Clarke in a couple more of her classes, and they sat by each other, striking up an easy rhythm like two old friends.

After school, the field hockey team had their first practice of the season, including tryouts to see who would be on the varsity team this year. Spencer went to the locker room to change, and she paused right inside the door as she saw how many girls there were. The usual Rosewood crew was all there, and Spencer nodded to her teammates. There were also several girls she didn't recognize – they must be a mix of Polis and Arkadia students.

"Hey, Spencer!" said Clarke, who was already halfway into her clothes for practice. She nodded at the girl beside her. "Have you met Octavia yet?"

Octavia nodded at Spencer. "Hey."

"Hi," said Spencer. She found the smaller girl's intensity a bit unsettling, which for Spencer Hastings was saying a lot. Spencer found an open locker and started to get her gear out.

Then the locker room door swung open again, and a hush fell over the previously buzzing room.

Spencer's back was to the door, but she was facing Clarke, and she saw Clarke swallow hard as she looked at whoever had just come in.

She turned and saw the girl from Polis who had made the speech in the gym the other night. Spencer was struck by her poise, her commanding presence as she surveyed the room.

"Is this…field hockey tryouts?" the girl said.

Spencer decided to take some control of the situation. "Yes," she said confidently, extending her hand. "I'm Spencer Hastings."

"Lexa," said the newcomer, walking over and shaking Spencer's hand as she fixed her with a piercing gaze. Spencer noticed that Lexa's eyes flicked over her shoulder once, looking at someone behind her.

"You can grab any open locker," said Spencer as the other girls slowly returned to their conversations. She noticed that Lexa didn't have a stick or pads. "Do you have your own gear?"

Lexa shook her head. "No. I've never played field hockey before. But I hadn't selected another fall sport, and this one looked…fun."

Spencer grinned. "Oh, it's definitely fun. Let's go to the coach's office and get you set up."

She introduced Lexa to the coach, then went out on the field to warm up.

Ninety minutes later, Spencer slammed her locker angrily after the most frustrating field hockey practice of her life. She stomped out into the hall, almost colliding with Emily.

"Hey, Spence!" said Emily in surprise. Her hair was still wet from swim practice. "How was practice?"

Spencer grunted. "God, it was awful. Reminded me of the old days, with Alison and Paige." (She shot a glance at Emily.) "Sorry, Em, but they were brutal back then. You remember?" Emily nodded, caught a little off-guard by the reference to her ex.

"But they were nothing compared to that Octavia girl!" Spencer said. "She was unbelievable. She's tiny, but so quick – and she hits like it's ultimate fighting or something, not field hockey. I kept having to remind her that it was a _practice_ , that we're all on the same team now, but she just laughed at me and hit even harder!"

They heard a snort of laughter behind them. Spencer spun around, ready to confront whoever it was. And – of course – it was Motorcycle Guy, the one she'd been trading jabs with since the first time they saw each other.

"Sounds like O is handling herself all right, then," he said with a smirk.

"O? Ah, of _course_ you know her, the little b–" Spencer snapped. Luckily, Emily clapped a hand over her mouth before she could finish that thought.

The guy's face darkened. Spencer shrugged Emily off. "Let me guess – she's your girlfriend?"

"No. She's my sister," he said coldly. "And I hope she taught you a lesson out there today. Seems like you could use it." He walked away without another word.

Emily wordlessly linked her arm with Spencer's, as she always did when she could sense that her friend needed her. "Spence…tomorrow is another day," she said gently.

"Great," Spencer grumbled. "I can't wait."

Next chapter: Clarke!


	3. Chapter 3: Clarke

In this new reality, there were a lot of things Clarke Griffin didn't know.

She didn't know what her place was in the new school. At Arkadia, she was pretty much the unofficial leader of the student body, but since the three schools had come together, there seemed to be no shortage of leaders to go around.

She didn't know how to act around her mom. That was nothing new, but it didn't seem to be getting any better.

And, perhaps most confusing of all, she didn't know why she woke up this morning with the name "Lexa" on her lips.

She rubbed her face and swung her feet out of bed, shaking her head a little to clear it.

When she went downstairs after a quick shower, Abby was about to head out the door. "Morning, honey," she said with a tight smile. "I have to run to the office early, but I made you an omelet if you want it."

Clarke nodded and returned the tight smile. It was a Griffin woman trait – Clarke's dad Jake had always had an easygoing grin that lit up his whole face.

"Is R– are your friends giving you a ride today?" Abby asked.

"Yep," said Clarke.

Abby hesitated at the door. "Clarke – are you doing okay with the new school and everything? I know we haven't really had a chance to talk…"

"I'm fine, Mom," Clarke said.

Abby nodded, a little sadly. "Okay. Have a good day at school. Maybe we can talk later?" And then she was gone.

Clarke ate half the omelet and threw the rest away.

About 30 minutes later, she was dressed and had just finished brushing her teeth when she heard Raven honk out front. "CLARKE!" Raven hollered. "Get your ass down here!"

Clarke stuck her head out the window. "Thanks, Raven! I figured that was what you meant by all the honking!" She could hear Octavia and Raven laughing.

She closed the window and grabbed her bag, then ran down the stairs and went outside. Raven was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, and Octavia was riding shotgun. Clarke tilted her head, and Octavia rolled her eyes, but climbed into the back seat.

Clarke slammed into the front seat and sighed. "Hey girl," said Raven. "How's it going?"

"Oh, fine," said Clarke. "Just, things are still weird with my mom."

Raven cleared her throat. "Well…I mean….Abby is Abby." She changed the subject. "So, how did it go at school yesterday? Sorry I couldn't give you guys a ride home after field hockey, I had to work."

"Yeah, how dare you be gainfully employed?" said Octavia, thumping the back of Raven's chair.

"Yesterday was okay," Clarke said. "Classes were fine and everything, the Rosewood kids are a little cold but some of them aren't so bad."

"Like that girl you used the old 'sorry for spilling my drink on your boobs' routine on the other night?" Raven grinned at her mischievously.

Clarke smiled at the mention of Emily. "Yeah…she's pretty cool. And that actually _was_ an accident." She remembered then. "Oh! There's this one girl who's also super cool, she's in a lot of my classes and we get along pretty well." She looked in the backseat. "But then Octavia pounded the crap out of her during field hockey tryouts and now she probably hates all of us."

"Pssh, whatever," said a voice from the backseat. "She had it coming."

"Dang, O!" Raven laughed, putting up her hand for a high five. Octavia smacked it.

"Yes, please high five her for being a jerk to my only new friend," grumbled Clarke. Raven and Octavia laughed at her a little more, but Clarke was only half listening.

Spencer had actually been the biggest surprise of her first day at Rosewood. Clarke hadn't been expecting to make a friend, and it was nice to meet someone she respected (because Spencer seemed like pretty much a badass, getting knocked down by Octavia notwithstanding).

And, let's be honest…it didn't hurt that Spencer was good friends with the lovely Emily. Clarke smiled as she looked out the window. She needed to make good on her promise to visit Emily at work. What did she say the place was called again? The Brew?

It had been a long time since Finn, and Clarke was finally feeling ready to move on. It would be fun to flirt with someone again.

"Hey, Clarke, come down to Earth!" Raven was saying. "Are you even paying attention? We're here."

Octavia was already halfway up the steps to school. Clarke hadn't even noticed that they were stopped. "I don't know what's going on with me today!" she said as she hopped out. "Thanks for playing chauffeur."

"My pleasure," said Raven as she peeled out.

Clarke looked up at the front steps and saw Lexa standing there. Their eyes instantly met – Clarke could swear she felt an actual click. There were a bunch of other kids milling around, but as the moment stretched on, they all blurred into the background and it was like Clarke and Lexa were the only two people on the front lawn.

Despite the distance, Clarke could see every detail of Lexa's features: her green eyes with their generous ring of eyeliner, her pursed lips, her regal bearing. She could see the surprise in Lexa's eyes as she absorbed Clarke's gaze, too.

Ah, she thought to herself. Maybe _that's_ why I woke up whispering her name.

And then the moment was broken. Clarke saw a flash of red hair come between her and Lexa, and then Lexa was walking into the school with a girl Clarke vaguely remembered from the assembly the other night.

Clarke sighed and went to her first class.

In the AP Calc classroom, Spencer groaned, stretching her leg out into the aisle and wincing. Clarke smiled at her sympathetically. "On behalf of my savage little friend, I want to apologize for any and all bodily harm you sustained yesterday."

Spencer smiled despite her obvious soreness. "'Sokay," she mumbled, waving away Clarke's apology. "Goes with the territory. She was pretty great out there." Then she turned to the front of the classroom as the bell rang and their teacher started talking.

Clarke was relieved. Still friends, then. Besides Raven and Octavia, it was hard for her to feel that kind of camaraderie, of easygoing connection, that other kids seemed to find so effortlessly.

She was very grateful for Spencer Hastings.

At lunch, Octavia and Clarke were sitting together at a table outside when a dark-haired boy plopped down next to Octavia. "Hey," he said.

Octavia gestured at the courtyard. "I don't know if you've noticed, but the families aren't exactly mingling yet."

Clarke looked around them. Octavia was right – she could easily spot little groups of Rosewood kids, Arkadia kids she knew, and the mostly quiet and stoic Polis kids. But they were keeping to themselves so far.

"I don't care what everyone else is doing," said the boy. "I want to sit with you." He took out his lunch – a microwaved burrito. "And – since this happens to be a free country – I'm going to do exactly that." He took a big bite of his burrito. "Hey, I'm Caleb," he said to Clarke through a mouthful of tortilla.

"I'm Clarke," she said, smiling. She liked him – he had an easygoing way about him that she thought played off of Octavia's intensity kind of nicely.

"So, what are you guys doing after school?" Caleb asked. "We have practice," Octavia said quickly.

"No, we don't," said Clarke, grimacing when Octavia stomped on her foot under the table. She fixed Octavia with her sweetest smile and said, "Remember? The coaches are getting together today to decide who makes varsity based on yesterday's tryouts. So we are free as a bird after school, my friend."

"Cool," Caleb said. "So, Octavia, do you want to do something?" Then he seemed to remember his manners, quickly adding, "Clarke, you should come too."

"I don't know…" said Clarke, trying to think of a way to get Octavia to give this sweet kid a try. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, there aren't a ton of options," he said. "But there's this place I used to go a bunch called The Brew–"

"We're in," Clarke interrupted. Caleb looked at her, a little surprised. "Oh, Clarke has this thing for a hot girl who works there," said Octavia helpfully. "You said you 'used' to go there? Why'd you stop?"

"Um…" said Caleb. "It's not a big deal, it's just that I used to go there with my ex-girlfriend, and then I left town for a while, and I just haven't really been back since."

Clarke saw how his eyes darted over to where Spencer sat with her friends. She filed that away for later.

"Okay, apparently we'll see you later then," said Octavia, dragging Clarke away from the table.

"Let's meet out front and walk over together!" Clarke called to Caleb, who nodded and dove back into his burrito.

"What. The. Heck." seethed Octavia once they were a little distance away.

"What?" said Clarke innocently. "He's nice. And cute."

"So _date_ him," Octavia said, "and stop trying to hook me up with him or whatever you're doing."

"I like him for you," Clarke said simply, "not for me."

Octavia looked at her for a second. "I hate how rational you are."

"I know," grinned Clarke. "But look – my rationality just got us both hot dates for the afternoon, so suck it up." She turned and walked into the school.

"It's not a date!" Octavia called after her. Then she followed her inside, and Clarke smiled as she heard her grumbling to herself the whole way.

After school, Clarke was headed to the front door to meet Caleb and Octavia when she overheard someone say the name "Lexa."

Like some kind of creeper (what was up with her today?), she peeked around the corner and saw Lexa talking with the red-haired girl.

"Hello, Paige," she heard Lexa saying, and her voice was just as captivating up close as it had been in that gym full of people. (There hadn't been any opportunity for her to talk with Lexa at field hockey tryouts yesterday, as most of Clarke's time was spent trying to pull Octavia off various people.)

Clarke quickly retreated around the corner, still listening. She heard Paige say, "So, are you settling in okay?"

Lexa said, "It will be a process. But I am confident in the abilities of the Polis High crew to adjust. Many of us have faced worse."

Her voice was even and calm, thoughtful, but Clarke could hear the intensity simmering beneath her words.

Paige said, "Sounds like quite a story." She hesitated for a moment. "Would you maybe want to hang out after school sometime? Ever since you made that speech at the assembly, I've been wanting to get to know you better."

Clarke heard a door bang open and peeked around the corner. A couple of lacrosse boys were loudly exiting the gym.

Lexa and Paige were both leaning against the lockers, casually close to one another. Clarke had to admit, Paige had game, boldly asking Lexa out on the second day of school. There was no way she could even be sure Lexa was into girls – Clarke had respect for the redhead for taking that kind of risk.

As the lacrosse boys passed the two girls, one of them groaned. He was almost beautiful, Clarke thought, with features that looked like they'd been carved from marble. (He was a little short for her, though.)

"Damn, McCullers!" he said. "Please tell me you're not taking yet another hot girl off the market. Leave some for the rest of us!"

In a heartbeat, he was thrown up against the lockers, Lexa's arm across his throat. Her eyes blazed but her voice remained calm – cold, even – as she simply said, "Apologize."

"I – I'm sorry?" he stammered. His friend was too stunned to move, and Clarke stayed where she was, realizing that the boy was in no real danger and interested to see how this all played out.

But Paige moved, placing a gentle hand on Lexa's arm. "Lexa – it's okay," she said in a confident, calming tone. "Noel was kidding." She looked at Noel and smiled. "He likes to give me a hard time, but he's just jealous."

Lexa relaxed her arm, and Noel straightened the front of his shirt. She looked at Paige. "You would let him show you disrespect like that? Because of your choice of partner?"

Realization dawned on Paige's face then. "Oh – Noel's not a homophobe. He's just a moron." Noel and his friend both nodded in agreement at that. "My favorite cousin is gay!" blurted out the other boy.

Paige, maintaining control of the situation, looked at them and said, "Bye, guys." They took the hint and walked down the hall hastily.

Paige turned to Lexa. She was still holding Lexa's elbow and they both realized it at the same time. Paige let go, a little awkwardly. Clarke darted back around the corner. Paige said, "Lexa – I don't know what things are like at Polis High, but around here the students are actually pretty accepting. It's like, there are bigger things to worry about here than who someone dates, you know?" She paused for a minute, then continued. "Some of our _parents_ are less than cool about…things. But whatever."

Clarke could imagine the look on Lexa's face – pursed lips, pensive gaze. "So your parents know that you're…"

"Into girls, yes," said Paige, light amusement in her voice.

"And they were…less than cool about it?"

Paige said, "Well, you remember my dad's little performance at the assembly. That's pretty much Nick McCullers's go-to response to surprises." Then she said, more shyly, "So, you bus it here, right? Can I walk you to the bus stop?"

As they walked away, Clarke heard Lexa say, "You must tell me sometime about all of these other 'hot girls' you took off the market." Paige laughed and said, "Did you actually just make a _joke_?" And Clarke swore she heard Lexa mumble something about 'the competition' as they walked out the front door.

She sighed and waited a second there before making her way to the door herself, feeling mildly guilty for the eavesdropping but not as guilty as she probably should feel. She had gained a lot of useful insights in those few minutes.

Outside, she could see Lexa and Paige on the sidewalk, headed toward the bus stop, heads close together as they talked.

Then a hand grabbed her arm. "Where have you _been_?" Octavia hissed. Clarke saw Caleb lounging on the steps, looking amused. "I had to _talk_ to him!" Octavia continued.

"I'm sorry," Clarke said, biting back a smile. "That must have been torture." She looked at both of them. "Ready to go?" And the three of them headed to The Brew, Caleb leading the way.

Emily was right – there wasn't much to the town of Rosewood, pretty much just one main drag. The Brew was a cute little coffee shop, though.

The late afternoon sun slanted through the windows as Clarke, Octavia, and Caleb filed through the door. "We should probably grab a table," Caleb said. "It gets pretty crowded in here this time of day."

The girls nodded and followed him to a table near the back. Clarke spotted Emily at the counter. "What do you guys want?" she said. "It's on me."

"Thanks!" said Caleb. "Small Americano for me, please."

"Same for me, but I'll come with you," said Octavia, hopping out of her chair.

"No, that's okay," said Clarke. "Stay. Get comfortable. I got this."

Octavia looked at the front counter and saw Emily there. Then she looked back at Caleb, who was sitting comfortably, one ankle crossed over his other knee, grinning. "I hate you," she mouthed at Clarke.

"But I _love_ you!" said Clarke cheerfully. She started making her way through the tables as Octavia sat down grumpily.

Emily was at the register, chatting with a customer. She laughed at something the man said as she handed him his change, and her entire face lit up, and the sunlight gleamed off of her shiny hair, and Clarke actually froze on her way to the counter.

And of _course_ Emily happened to turn at just that moment, and she saw Clarke staring like an idiot. She looked delighted to see her, though, and waved her over. "Hi!" she said, a little breathlessly. "You came!"

"Hi," said Clarke, grinning as she recovered from her slightly embarrassing moment. "Yeah, I dragged a friend of mine here." She gestured to the table where Octavia and Caleb were sitting. Emily's eyes widened a little, another thing for Clarke to file away for later.

"Hang on a sec," Emily said. She went in the back and came out with another employee in tow. "I'm going on break. Can you take this nice lady's order?" she said. Clarke ordered the Americanos for Caleb and Octavia and a chai tea latte for herself. "Do you want anything?" she said to Emily, but Emily waved her off: "No thanks, I'm all coffee'd out."

She came around the counter. "So, how was your second day?" she said. There wasn't a lot of room in the small coffee shop, so she and Clarke were forced to stand almost nose to nose.

Clarke thought about it. "You know, it was okay," she said. "Classes are fine. I even made a friend!" she joked.

Emily grinned. "Your principal mom must be so proud!" Clarke looked at her quizzically. "I noticed when she talked about you during the assembly, and anyway it wasn't that hard to make the 'last name Griffin' connection," Emily explained. "So, who's your new friend?"

"It's your friend Spencer," said Clarke. "She's in a bunch of my classes and I don't know, we just kind of hit it off."

"That makes sense," said Emily. "I can see how you two would click. Oh, there are your drinks!"

She grabbed Clarke's chai latte so Clarke could get the two Americanos. Clarke deposited them in front of Octavia and Caleb, winking at Octavia as she and Emily continued to a table a short distance away. Octavia's eyes shot daggers at her, but Clarke didn't care.

She and Emily slipped into an easy conversation, asking each other questions about their lives at Arkadia and Rosewood. Clarke learned about how Emily became friends with Spencer, Aria, and Hanna (another girl named Alison had brought them together), and she told Emily about how inseparable Raven, Octavia, and Clarke were despite being in different years.

Clarke observed that Emily was a toucher, often putting her hand lightly on Clarke's arm or hand when she laughed. Once, Emily tucked her hair behind her ear, and Clarke blurted out, "I like that thing you do with your hair. It's adorable" before she could stop herself. She smiled as a blush crept up Emily's cheeks.

It was the best non-date she'd had in ages. The first time she'd really let her guard down with anyone besides Raven and Octavia since – well, since Finn.

Emily must have noticed Clarke's wistful expression, because her eyes instantly looked concerned. Before she could say anything, though, Octavia walked up and brusquely said, "I texted Raven to come pick us up half an hour ago, but she hasn't texted me back."

Clarke looked up at her. "Octavia! So good to see you!" she said, a bit sarcastically. "Emily, have you met my charming friend Octavia?" Emily smiled at her.

Clarke checked the time on her phone. "I guess we should be getting home," she said. "O, Raven isn't our personal driver. I'll call my mom, she's probably still at the school."

Emily stood up. "I should get back to work anyway. My break was supposed to end ages ago." As she passed Clarke, she put a hand on her shoulder. "This was fun," she said. "We should do it again sometime." Clarke smiled and said, "Totally." She watched Emily walk away.

"Stop checking out her ass and call your mom," Octavia hissed. Clarke smacked her on the arm and picked up her phone to call Abby. "So, how did it go with Caleb?" Clarke said as she dialed.

"Fine, I guess," said Octavia. She looked over at Caleb and he winked at her. She actually smiled a little, unable to help herself, as Clarke got Abby on the phone.

Clarke hung up. "My mom says she'll be here in a few. She was about to leave school anyway."

Octavia headed over to say goodbye to Caleb, and Clarke walked over to the counter, where Emily was back behind the register. "When do you work again?"

Emily smiled shyly. "Thursday after swim practice."

Clarke grinned back at her. "Then I predict that I will have an insatiable caffeine craving after field hockey on Thursday."

"Hey!" said Raven, walking through the door right then. "Sorry I couldn't text O back, my phone died _literally_ the second I got her text." She saw how Clarke was leaning against the counter, smiling at Emily. "Um…I'll just go say hi to Octavia…" But Clarke pointed to their table, where Octavia was standing as Caleb looked up at her, and she saw how they were both looking at each other. "I'll just wait outside in the car," she said finally, turning to leave…

…and running straight into Abby, hard. Raven instinctively reached out and caught her by her upper arms, crushing their bodies together.

"Oh, shoot!" said Clarke. "Mom, we texted Raven but didn't hear back. I totally forgot you were coming."

Abby was still pressed against Raven. They had both frozen in place. "You can let go of me now, Raven," she said. Her voice sounded even raspier than usual to Clarke. Raven let go of her arms and took a step back.

Octavia had sidled up to the front counter. She whispered to Emily, "Oh god, this is going to get weird."

"Why?" Emily asked.

"I have no idea," Octavia said. "Whenever Raven and Clarke's mom are around each other, it just does." Clarke shot her a look, overhearing.

"Does Raven have trouble with authority figures?" Emily said.

"No – I mean, actually, yeah – but I don't know, they like hate each other or something."

Raven was smoothing out her t-shirt. "Okay, so if you guys are all set here, I'm just going to take off."

"Wait up, Raven," said Octavia. "I'll ride with you and Clarke can go with her mom."

Raven shrugged and squeezed around Abby, heading for the door. Octavia followed her, looking over her shoulder to aim a little wave at Caleb.

Clarke was left there with her mom and Emily. Luckily, Emily's natural sweetness meant that the moment wasn't as awkward as it could have been.

"Hi, Principal Griffin," said Emily.

"Hi…" Abby said. "Emily," Clarke prompted. "Emily Fields. She's on the swim team at Rosewood."

"Nice to meet you," said Abby with a little smile. She turned to Clarke. "Well, shall we go?"

They followed Raven and Octavia out of The Brew. Clarke and Emily shared another smile as Clarke left.

When they were outside, Clarke called "Raven!" The other girls paused, and Clarke and Abby caught up with them. "Thanks for coming all the way back here. Sorry for double-dipping."

"No problem," said Raven. "It's Octavia's fault anyway." The smaller girl punched her on the arm. "Ow!" Raven rubbed her arm. "Okay, I'm going to get this violent little misfit home. Later, Griffins." She and Octavia stood there while Clarke and Abby climbed into Abby's car, which was closer. Clarke waved to her friends as she hopped in.

As they pulled away, Clarke could see Raven scrunching up her face like she was concentrating really hard. I wonder what that's about, she thought.

Just one more item to add to the list of things Clarke Griffin didn't know.

Next chapter: Raven!


	4. Chapter 4: Raven

Raven and Octavia were on a back road that they'd discovered was faster than the highway between their neighborhood and Rosewood.

"Serpentine belt," Raven muttered. She didn't realize she had said it out loud until Octavia said "Dashboard."

Raven looked at her. "Oh, I thought we were just naming parts of a car," said Octavia. "I was pretty much done after 'dashboard.'"

"Abby's car," said Raven. "I think she needs to replace her serpentine belt. Didn't you hear the way it was squealing?"

Octavia snorted. " _You_ want to be squealing."

"That doesn't even make any sense," said Raven. Octavia smirked. Raven changed the subject. "So, what's with you and the new boy toy?"

Octavia shrugged noncommittally, but Raven thought she saw her blush a little. "Caleb's okay," she said. "He doesn't talk too much, and he's nice, and I get the feeling he's done some stuff in the past that wasn't strictly legal."

Raven grinned at her. "Well, two out of three ain't bad. And I'm sure after he spends some more time with you, he'll get over the being-nice thing." Octavia glared at her. "Seriously though, I'm glad there are some people worth talking to at the new school. I don't think I could stand being around all those Rosewood kids."

They both fell silent then. Raven assumed Octavia was thinking about her floppy-haired new guy.

She started thinking about the damn serpentine belt again. And that made her think she should tell Abby about it, maybe tomorrow when she dropped the girls off at school. And that made her think about how Abby might flash one of those tight little smiles of hers, and _that_ made her think about the moment when Raven had made an ass out of herself in the coffee shop.

She groaned inwardly (not out loud, this time – she shot a quick glance at Octavia to double-check). That had to rank up there as one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Oh hey, Abby, let me just slam into you and almost knock you down and then grab you by your arms and press you tight against me, she thought. Because _that's_ a thing that actually happens to people. And then, hey, why not awkwardly keep holding onto you, mortified and yet loving the feel of your body pressed against mine? So that you actually have to tell me to let go of you? Christ, Raven, who _does_ that?

She slammed her head lightly against the head rest behind her. Octavia looked over. "Hey – you okay?" she said.

"Yeah, yeah – I'm fine," said Raven. "Just – it's been a stupid day."

"Is it…the Abby thing?" Octavia asked, oddly hesitant for her.

"God, Octavia, why do you keep bringing up Clarke's mom?" Raven snapped. "Yes, I tripped in the coffee shop or whatever, but that's not the only crappy thing that happened today. Which you would know if anyone ever asked me about _my_ day, instead of all your high school drama!"

It was an unfortunate moment to be pulling into Octavia's driveway. She got out of the car and yelled back, "Thanks for the ride, asshole!" as she slammed the door and stormed inside.

Raven peeled out, feeling irritated and a little guilty for snapping at O like that.

Her night didn't get any better from there. She was late to work at the bar again, her boss picked a fight with her, and Raven ended up yelling at him and quitting.

She lay in bed later that night, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

Her apartment was lonely. Her life was pathetic. She'd just lost a job she'd hated anyway, she had no future prospects, she spent her mornings and afternoons shuttling around her friends who were still in high school, she had no love life… "Argh!" Raven growled, punching her fist out to the side. It connected with the lamp on her makeshift bedside table, and the lamp shattered.

Raven sat up. "Goddammit." She went into the bathroom and flicked on the light, surveying the damage to her hand. It was bleeding, of course. Perfect end to a perfect day. She wrapped it up in a towel and went back to bed.

In the morning, she woke up after a fitful night's sleep and ate some cereal (dry – she was out of milk again).

Normally, she picked up Octavia first, since they lived so close, but she didn't think she could stand to be in the car just the two of them. So she left a little earlier than usual for Clarke's house.

When she got there, Raven sat in the car for a minute. Usually she just honked until Clarke came out, but today some force compelled her to go up and knock on the door.

Clarke answered it, her hair still damp from the shower. "Hey, Raven!" she said, looking a little surprised. She looked around Raven at her empty car. "Where's Octavia?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Ugh, we had a fight last night, so I didn't want to be alone with her."

"Come on in," said Clarke, opening the door. "I'm just finishing up, shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. My mom just left, so make yourself at home." She ran upstairs to finish getting ready.

Raven looked around. There were dishes stacked neatly in the sink – she smelled maple syrup, so the Griffins must have had pancakes or waffles for breakfast. She walked around and looked at the bookshelves. It had been a long time since she'd actually been in Clarke's house – the girls usually preferred to hang out at Raven's place or out somewhere.

A photo on one of the shelves caught her eye, and she picked it up. In it, Clarke's dad was swinging her around by her arms. Clarke must have been about 6 when the picture was taken, her hair white-blonde and gleaming in the sun. She and her dad were both laughing.

Then Raven's eye fell on the third person in the picture, and suddenly she couldn't breathe. She'd never seen Abby Griffin smile like that, her entire face open and laughing and beautifully lit by the sun. Raven thought she looked like an angel.

"That's one of my favorites," said Clarke. Raven quickly put the picture back, feeling guilty. But Clarke was smiling. "Do you remember him?"

"A little," said Raven. "He died the year I met you, your freshman year of high school – right?" Clarke nodded. "So I only started hanging out with you a few months before –" She trailed off. "I remember his smile, and his laugh. He was always the happiest guy in the room, and he had this way of making everyone else feel happy too."

She looked at Clarke, leaning against the doorway with her bag slung over one arm. There was a single tear on her cheek. "Aw, kiddo," Raven mumbled. "Come here." She gave Clarke a tight hug (but a quick one – Raven wasn't much of a hugger, and to be honest neither was Clarke). "It sucks, doesn't it?"

Clarke nodded. "We should probably go get the angry little one now," she said.

"Do we have to?" said Raven. Clarke shot her a look. "Come on, Reyes, woman up," she said, and they went out to the car.

The drive to school wasn't as bad as it could have been. Octavia was pretty pissed when they got there, but she could never stay mad at Raven for long, and as she got out she smacked the back of Raven's seat and said "Thanks for the ride, asshole" – but this time, with a grin.

Raven drove aimlessly through downtown Rosewood, which didn't take long. She thought about her friendship with Clarke and Octavia. She'd met Clarke in Clarke's freshman year of high school, Raven's (second) junior year. They were on the field hockey team together and instantly hit it off.

The next year, when Raven was a senior, Octavia was a freshman and had instantly made a name for herself as a force to be reckoned with on the field. She quickly became the third member of their little gang. The three of them were inseparable – even when Clarke dated Raven's ex, Finn, she checked with Raven first to make sure it was okay, and oddly enough it actually was. Or the time Raven hooked up with O's big brother, and that should have been super weird, but they got through it.

Raven didn't know what made the three of them click so well, despite the differences in their ages that during high school had seemed so vast. The age thing had never mattered to them; they were all old souls – and, Raven mused, they'd all been through a ton of shit in their short lives. That was probably what brought them together.

Suddenly, a sign caught her eye: there was a "Now Hiring" sign in the window of the Hollis Bar & Grill. Well, it's worth a try, she thought, and she started looking for a parking spot.

Ten minutes later, she was walking out the door with a new job – and they wanted her to start tonight! Today was definitely shaping up to be better than yesterday.

Then Raven remembered another stop she'd meant to make, and she headed back to the high school.

She parked in visitor parking and got out of her car. She pushed her sunglasses up on her head, took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. This is not a big deal, she told herself. You're just being a nice person. And she made her way up the steps into Rosewood High.

It was pretty easy to find the office, and Raven walked in a little timidly. "Um…is Principal Griffin here?" she said to the lady behind the desk. "She is. Do you have an appointment?" the lady asked.

"No, that's okay," said Raven, and she was turning to go when – "Raven?" said Abby, coming out of her office. "Are you here to see Clarke? Is everything okay?"

Raven turned to face Abby then, and saw genuine concern in her eyes. "Everything's fine." She swallowed. "Actually, I'm here to see you." Abby looked surprised for a second but quickly recovered, gesturing Raven into her office and closing the door behind them.

Abby's office, thought Raven. Her mind was racing, and she worried that her face was betraying her as she bit her lip, trying to avoid the thoughts she was having. Pushing Abby against the closed door and kissing her breathless…sweeping everything off her desk and kissing her on top of it…get a grip, Reyes! she told herself fiercely. Meanwhile, Abby just looked at her, waiting to hear why she was there.

"Serpentine belt!" blurted Raven suddenly, remembering. Abby didn't seem to know how to respond to that. Raven sighed. "Your car. How long has it been making that squealing sound?"

"I don't know," said Abby. "A couple of weeks, maybe?"

"A couple of _weeks_?" Raven said. "Let me guess: the sound gets worse when the A/C is on?"

Abby said, "Well, yes. But I mean, it's fall, so I haven't had the A/C on as much, and I've been so busy with the new job…"

"Girl, you gotta get that thing checked out," said Raven. She saw Abby grin at that. "I mean…Principal Griffin, you should tend to your automobile," said Raven cheekily.

"Thanks," said Abby. "I do so prefer it when people talk to me like they're from the 1920s." They both laughed at that, then grew silent.

"So, what are you up to these days?" said Abby, breaking the silence.

"Not much," said Raven, shuffling her feet a little and trying to stick her hands in her pockets. She was never sure what to do with them around Abby. "I quit my job at the bar last night."

"Raven!" said Abby. (Raven thought she might melt at the sound of her name in that raspy voice.) "You still live alone, right? How are you going to make rent?"

"Yes, I still live alone," said Raven, bristling a little. "And I'm fine – I already got another job."

Abby shook her head, smiling affectionately. "Of course you did." She looked up at Raven. "You never cease to amaze me."

Raven felt her ears getting hot. She couldn't break Abby's gaze. She swallowed, hard, for what felt like the 40th time since she'd been in this office.

Suddenly, Abby said "Oh!" She hurried behind her desk, opened the top drawer and rummaged through it. "When we were talking about my car earlier, I remembered – I actually have a friend who owns a garage." She found a business card and held it up, triumphantly.

"Good," said Raven, regaining the ability to speak. "Now you have to take your squealing car and actually drive it there and have him fix it."

"No," said Abby. "I mean – yes, I will – but I meant that maybe you could talk to him about a job there, or something."

"I have a job," Raven said flatly.

Abby came around the desk and handed the card to Raven, who took it reflexively. Sinclair's Garage, it said. She stuffed it in her back pocket.

Abby was still standing close to her. She put a hand on Raven's forearm, and Raven tensed. "I seem to remember that you liked fixing things," she said quietly. "Maybe that's something you could get back into."

"What's the point?" said Raven before she could stop herself. "Maybe some things are just meant to stay broken." She pulled away and turned to open the door. "Oh – and I start tonight, so can you make sure O and Clarke know they need to catch a ride with you?"

"Sure," said Abby. "Raven –" But Raven was already out the door.

Raven drove home, showered, watched some TV for a while, then changed for her first shift at the Hollis Bar & Grill. She wasn't sure why she'd applied for a job in Rosewood, but it was too late to rethink it now.

The bar was pretty quiet, about what you'd expect on a Wednesday evening in a sleepy college town. There were the usual crowd, the interchangeable locals you could find day-drinking in any dive bar across the country, but there was one couple that drew Raven's eye.

They were sitting at one of the tables in the corner, completely wrapped up in one another and oblivious to the world around them. The girl looked familiar. She was tiny like Octavia, but with paler skin. She had enormous eyes and brown hair and Raven guessed you could define her style as "quirky." Raven couldn't place her face, though.

The guy was equally adorable, in a little-boy sort of way. Raven guessed that despite his looks, he had to be about five years older than the girl. She heard the girl call him "Ezra" at one point, and the old-fashioned name caught her attention.

Raven's shift passed without incident. She didn't get any crazy drink requests, mostly beer and the occasional G&T. Maybe the college kids weren't back for the semester yet. But it seemed like a decent place to spend her evenings, serving drinks and people-watching and making enough cash to keep her apartment.

Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Clarke, congratulating her on the new job and asking if she'd be taking them to school in the morning. Raven smiled and texted back _Wouldn't miss it._

She slept better that night than she had in weeks.

The next morning, as she was dropping her friends off at school, she saw the brown-haired girl from the bar. "Hey – who is that?" she asked. "That's Aria," said Clarke. "She's good friends with Spencer and Emily."

"So she's in high school?" Raven asked. "What the hell was she doing in a bar last night?"

"Eating food?" Octavia guessed.

"Maybe," Raven said. "Actually – do you guys know someone named Ezra? A guy who goes here?"

They shook their heads. Then Clarke said, "Oh, wait! I did hear about an Ezra Fitz. He was the English teacher last year, but I think now he's teaching at Hollis. Is that who you're thinking of?"

Raven pulled into a parking space, surprising Clarke and Octavia. "I need to talk to her," she said, turning off her car and getting out. Clarke and Octavia shrugged – they were used to Raven's weird moods – and went on into the school.

"Hey!" said Raven, approaching the girl – Aria. She looked up. "Hi," she said, smiling. "Wait, weren't you working at the restaurant last night?"

"Yeah," said Raven. "I saw you there too." Aria blanched a little. "I was there with a friend," she said, a bit defensively.

"Riiiiight," said Raven. "A real good friend."

Aria started to leave, but Raven grabbed her arm. "Wait – I need your help." Aria looked at her, curious.

Raven sighed and let go of her arm. "I need to know…how it all started. With you and Ezra, I mean. Or maybe, how you make it work?"

Aria looked at her intently. "Why are you asking?" Raven looked down at the ground, sheepishly.

Just then, the bell rang. "Girls! Get to class!" they heard a voice call from the front entrance.

They both looked up. "Oh…hi, Raven," Abby said from the doors. "Aria – class."

Yep, thought Raven. That seems about right. She felt a blush creep up her neck to her cheeks. Aria was looking at her knowingly. "Oh. My. God." she said.

"Keep it to yourself," Raven hissed. She could feel Abby's eyes on her as she spun and practically race-walked to her car, her ears burning.

On her seat was the card for Sinclair's Garage. Must have fallen out of my pocket, she thought.

Raven picked up the card and looked at it for a minute. It brought a smile to her face as she drove away.

Next chapter: Emily! (I was going to do Bellamy's chapter next, but it seems like I've spent a lot more time on _The 100_ characters than _PLL_ characters lately.)


	5. Chapter 5: Emily

Emily Fields woke up to a day that felt full of promise. She stretched and rolled over, swung her legs out of bed and went downstairs.

Her mom, Pam, was already awake and making breakfast. She smiled as Emily came downstairs, yawning. "Morning, sweetie," Pam said. "Could you please get us some orange juice?" Emily nodded and got them each a glass of orange juice.

Pam served their plates, and they sat in the breakfast nook together. "So, your first week's been good so far?" Pam said.

Emily nodded as she finished a bite. "Yeah, it's been great. Classes are fine, swimming has felt good – oh, did I tell you Paige and I are the co-captains?"

Pam took her hand. "That's great, sweetie! Congratulations. Did you call your father and let him know?"

"No, but I will," Emily said. Her father was currently stationed in Texas. "And there are some new kids from Polis High and Arkadia on the team – there's a girl named Monroe, I forget her first name, she's from Arkadia. Oh, and our new coach came from Polis. Her name is Indra, and she's super intense and scary but I think she's going to push us to do our best…"

She trailed off as she noticed Pam's amused look. "I'm babbling, aren't I?" Emily said.

"I loved it!" Pam said. "I haven't seen you this happy in a while."

"Well, things are good," said Emily. "It's Thursday." She smiled to herself, thinking about her plans to see Clarke at The Brew later. The blonde girl was definitely a major factor in Emily's current euphoria.

On the way to school, Emily saw Spencer and instantly hopped off her bike so they could walk together. "Hey, Spence!" she said.

"Hey, smiley," said Spencer. "What's up with you?"

Emily shrugged. "I don't know, just feeling good. One of those no-poison-in-my-sports-cream kind of days, I guess." They both laughed.

Just then, a motorcycle whizzed by them, and Emily felt Spencer tense beside her. "God, that guy is such a jerk!"

"Was that Bellamy?" said Emily. Spencer looked at her. "Is that his name? I haven't had the displeasure yet."

Emily smiled. "You sure have a type, don't you?"

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you're as bad as Hanna with that Toby 2.0 crap! That guy is _nothing_ like Toby." She looked at Emily, her eyes suddenly gleaming in a way that made Emily nervous. "Speaking of having a type, what about your latest assertive gal?"

"Who actually says 'gal' since 1945?" Emily laughed. Then she sobered a bit. "You're friends with Clarke – what's her deal, anyway?"

"I'm sorry – 'what's her deal?'" Spencer said. "That might be the gayest thing you've ever said."

Emily poked her in the ribs, almost dropping her bike in the process. "How can I explain this in a way Spencer Hastings will understand?" She pretended to think for a second. "Ms. Hastings, I'm sure you can imagine, given my situation, the criticality of ascertaining the 'deal' of one's potential paramours…" She started giggling, unable to keep up the Spencer-speak for long.

"I don't sound like that," said Spencer, mock-indignantly.

"No, but for real, can you try to find out for me?" said Emily.

Spencer said, "Let me ask you this. Have you _ever_ actually struck out with anyone? Like, ever?" This time, Emily just glared at her. "Okay, okay, I'll talk to her, geez!" Spencer said, laughing. "I love it when you're all feisty like this, Fields. If I didn't have such a strong _type…_ "

They were just reaching the school, and Spencer gave Emily's elbow a quick squeeze before hurrying up the steps, mumbling something about AP Calculus.

As Emily was leaning over chaining up her bike, she heard someone say "Hi, Emily."

"Hey, Paige," she said, smiling before she even looked up to see who it was. She'd always know that voice anywhere.

The two of them had broken up several months before, not because they didn't love each other but because it was becoming increasingly difficult for Paige to deal with the "A" stuff. Things had been tense between them for a while after that, but the new school year had brought a new level of comfort for both of them.

Paige was sporting one of Emily's favorite looks: a flannel and a pair of jean shorts. She looked a little hesitant – it reminded Emily of her shyness in the early days of their relationship. "Hey, what's up?" Emily said, a bit concerned now.

They started heading for the front entrance. "Um…hey, so you know that new girl, Lexa? The one who spoke up the night of the assembly?"

Ah, thought Emily. She knew where this was going. "I know of her, yes," she said gently.

"Well," said Paige, "I kind of think…there might be something going on with us. And I thought, maybe, I should ask you if that would be…okay with you?"

Emily stopped and took hold of both of Paige's hands, turning her so they were face to face. "Paige – I think that's wonderful." Paige sighed, visibly relieved. Emily pulled her into a quick hug. "You just make sure she treats you well. You're worth it."

Then she linked arms with Paige, as she so often did when one of her friends needed a little extra support, and they walked into Rosewood High smiling.

At lunchtime, Emily was sitting with Hanna and Aria. She caught Spencer's eye and waved her over eagerly.

"So?" she said, grabbing Spencer's arm and pulling her down.

"Am I the only one who thinks Emily's eyes are, like, Spencer levels of crazy right now?" Hanna stage-whispered to Aria. They both giggled, and Emily shot them a Spencer-worthy look.

"Look, Em," Spencer said. "I started to ask her about, you know, past relationships and stuff. And we didn't have a ton of time before class, but she did mention that she had an ex-boyfriend…" Emily's face fell a little at that. Spencer spoke even more quietly as she continued, "Emily…her boyfriend died a little over a year ago."

Emily's eyes widened. Hanna and Aria froze, food halfway to their mouths. "That is super heavy," Hanna whispered.

Spencer said, "Emily, just because she has some dark stuff in her past–"

"And dated a guy!" Hanna interjected.

"…doesn't mean anything," Aria finished, shooting Hanna a look. "We all have some dark stuff in our pasts, right?"

"And you dated Ben!" Hanna added, helpfully.

That actually made Emily smile. "Yeah, guess I'll just have to see where it goes," she said.

Later, once her afternoon classes and swim practice were over, Emily was starting her shift at The Brew. She tied on an apron and wiped her palms on it, nervous and trying not to be. Her eyes were constantly drawn to the door, though, and when Clarke showed up a few minutes later Emily breathed out a sigh of relief.

Clarke's eyes found Emily immediately, and her face broke into that little half-smile Emily was coming to know so well. She came right over to the register and leaned her elbows on it, bringing her that much closer to Emily. "Hey," said Clarke.

"Hey," said Emily, fighting the urge to tuck her hair behind her ear but unable to suppress a shy smile.

"You really want to tuck your hair behind your ear right now, don't you?" said Clarke, her voice so low it was almost a whisper.

"What – how did –" Emily stammered. Clarke just winked at her. "I'll have a chai latte, please," she said, more loudly. Emily shook her head and rang it up. As her coworker made the drink, Emily asked "Is that dirt on your knees?"

Clarke looked embarrassed at that, and Emily was struck by how adorable she found it. "Yeah…I came here straight from practice because we ran late and I had told you I'd be here and…I'll just take this and drink it over here," Clarke said, indicating a table in the back as she took her drink. "Maybe you can join me when you have a break?" Emily nodded and watched Clarke walk away, until the next customer cleared his throat and she got back to work.

A while later, Emily slid into the chair next to Clarke, making her look up from her homework. "Hi," said Emily. "I brought you another chai – on the house."

"Thanks," said Clarke, rubbing her eyes and sighing as she took the drink. "Your timing is perfect – I was just about to throw my calculus book through the window."

"Well, any day I can save a window," said Emily. They grinned at each other.

"I should tell you," said Clarke, "as smart as Spencer is, she's shit at doing recon."

"What do you mean?" said Emily, giving Clarke her best wide-eyed innocent look.

"Come on," said Clarke. She did a passable imitation of Spencer's voice: "So, Clarke, inquiring minds want to know – what have your past relationships been like?"

Emily groaned. "God, that's terrible. Was she really that obvious about it?" She hid her face in her hands.

Clarke gently pulled her hands down to the table, then tilted Emily's chin up until their eyes met. "She was super obvious, yeah." She smiled. "But I didn't mind, because I knew who was really asking." Her voice got even quieter as her eyes bore into Emily's. "And I knew there was one reason said person was probably asking. And then the rest of Thursday couldn't happen fast enough."

Clarke released Emily, but their eyes stayed locked together. "She told you about Finn, didn't she?"

"Was that his name?" Emily said. Clarke nodded. "I'm sorry," Emily said.

Clarke said, "It's not the only dark thing in my past." She swallowed. "My dad also died, a few years ago. I'm a bit of a mess, if you haven't figured that out yet."

Emily laughed, a little sadly. "I'm not sure where to start…but my first love was presumed dead for a couple of years, my first girlfriend was murdered by a guy I later killed in self-defense…should I go on?"

Clarke's eyes widened. "Yup," said Emily. "We all have stuff in our past. I figure it means we should appreciate the present that much more." Clarke nodded. The moment stretched between them, and then Emily cleared her throat. "Well, I should get back to work. Good luck not throwing your book out the window."

As she walked away, Clarke grabbed her hand. "Hey. Thanks," she said.

"No problem," said Emily. And then, maintaining eye contact with Clarke, she very deliberately tucked her hair behind one ear. She smiled as she saw Clarke's nostrils flare, then Emily walked back to the register with a spring in her step.

About an hour later, Clarke stopped by the front counter. "My mom is leaving the school in a few minutes," she said. "Walk me out?"

Emily glanced around. There were only a couple of people in the shop this late. "Sure," she said.

They walked outside, their shoulders grazing one another as Emily let Clarke out the door ahead of her.

Under the glow of a streetlight, Clarke grabbed Emily by the waist and pulled her close. Emily was startled, and looking into Clarke's eyes it seemed to take her a little by surprise, too. Emily's arms went around Clarke's shoulders reflexively.

Their faces were a breath apart as Clarke whispered, "Just one thing: No more sending Spencer after me."

And then her lips were on Emily's, and Emily lost the ability to form a coherent thought.

She had never felt anything like being kissed by Clarke Griffin. Paige was a great kisser, but this was – shit, she couldn't think of the word.

Clarke captured and released her lips, over and over, leaving them both gasping between kisses. Emily's hands had found their way into Clarke's hair, and she clung to the back of Clarke's neck desperately as Clarke's hands gripped Emily's shirt at her lower back, bunching the fabric so that Emily could feel the evening breeze against her skin.

All those years of swimming, and she'd never felt more like she was drowning.

Emily moaned a little as Clarke broke their contact. Clarke leaned her forehead against Emily's and they both tried to catch their breath. "My mom will be here soon," Clarke said in a throaty whisper that sent chills down Emily's spine, "and I thought you might not want your new principal to see you making out with her daughter the first week of school."

And yet, when Principal Griffin pulled up a couple of minutes later, that's exactly what she saw.

"Ahem," Abby cleared her throat, rolling down the passenger side window. Clarke and Emily separated, and Emily tucked her hair behind her ear as she sheepishly said, "Hi, Principal Griffin."

"Hi, Emily," Abby said. It looked to Emily like she was suppressing a smile.

Clarke squeezed Emily's hand, kissed her on the cheek, and whispered in her ear, "We should do this again sometime."

As she got in the car, she turned and smiled at Emily.

And it made Emily's heart leap right into her throat.

Because it was a full-on three-quarters smile.

Next chapter: Bellamy!


	6. Chapter 6: Bellamy

Bellamy Blake was late to school.

He sighed as he parked his bike, thankful as always that he didn't have to fight with other cars for a parking space, then tucked his helmet under one arm and hurried into the building. Let's see, it was 9:35, which meant – wait, his schedule had changed, so that meant he had study hall now.

Some of the kids looked up as he snuck into study hall, and he realized he was starting to recognize several faces. One in particular caught his eye, and he groaned inwardly when he saw that the only seat left was next to her.

Oh well, he thought, nothing like a little condescension to start your Friday off right.

"Hey," he said as he slumped into the chair, ignoring a glare from the teacher.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "No 'Princess' today? Or are you just saving it for when you yell something at me and storm out?"

Bellamy sighed. "Guess I just don't have it in me today." He dug through his bag for his bio homework and knocked a book out. Spencer picked it up and handed it to him. " _Meditations_ , huh? Do you agree with Descartes?"

Bellamy shrugged. "Until I read that, I thought I was the one who came up with the theory of Radical Doubt." Spencer grinned, and he felt encouraged to continue: "Of course, I also thought I came up with 'It's not you, it's me,' so…" He shrugged again, flashed her a smile and finished digging out his bio stuff.

After a minute, Spencer said, "So, why were you late?" Before Bellamy could answer, she went on: "And why are you in this study hall? This is the first time I've seen you in here."

He focused on her with some difficulty – when he was tired, it was hard to split his attention between things like homework and talking to girls he was mildly fascinated with – and said, "I had to shift some things around in my schedule so I could take biology this semester. Meant I couldn't stay in my other study hall. And speaking of – aren't we supposed to, I don't know, _study_ in here?"

"You didn't answer my question," Spencer said.

"You are relentless! Okay, okay," Bellamy said. "It's a stupid story though. You're going to be sorry you were so persistent." He shot a glance at the teacher, who was thoroughly engrossed in his smartphone. "So my sister – Octavia, you met her at field hockey the other day?" Spencer shot him a look. "She didn't have a ride home after school yesterday, her one friend got a job and her other friend had a date."

Spencer said, "Oh yeah! Clarke and Emily! I'll have to ask Em how that went."

Bellamy waved her off. "Don't care. Anyway, you know O won't ride on my bike, so I went home and borrowed my buddy Monty's car and came back to get her. We got most of the way home when Monty's piece of shit car broke down, so we were stranded."

He broke off and looked at her. "I told you it was a stupid story!" But she looked interested, and gestured for him to continue. "I texted another friend of mine to come pick O up, and then I stayed with Monty's car until the tow truck got there, and then this morning I brought Monty to the towing place, but it didn't open until 8:30, so…here we are."

Spencer said, "So basically, you were late to school because you were being an awesome brother and friend?"

Bellamy looked around, acting paranoid. "Shhh! _They'll hear you_. I can't let my secret get out!"

Spencer smiled at that. "What about your parents? Can't they pick you guys up sometimes?"

Bellamy's own smile fell. "My dad's not in the picture," he said. "And my mom works two jobs, so she can't just be at our beck and call. You wouldn't understand."

"No, I get it," said Spencer. "My parents are in the middle of a divorce, and even before that they weren't around much. It's just me and my mom at home, and it's like we're living in two separate worlds. I mostly just do my own thing."

He looked at her, a little surprised. "Did we just have a moment?" he said, pretending to clap his hand to his heart. "I'm feeling more like a princess already!" She whacked him on the shoulder.

"Knock it off!" said the teacher from the front of the room.

After a minute, Spencer whispered, "I think it's cool that you and your sister get along."

Bellamy wasn't sure what to make of that. "Do you have any siblings?" he said.

"Yes, one sister," said Spencer. "But we're not exactly close." She paused, then seemed to make a decision. "I have an unfortunate habit of kissing her boyfriends."

Bellamy's eyes widened at that. "Hmm, I should give that a try sometime," he said, winking at her. "Then maybe O wouldn't want to lean on me as much."

She grinned, and he thought he saw her flush a little at the wink. Finally, he thought. He leaned a little closer. "Hey – there's a party tomorrow night," he said. "Grounder party. This guy Lincoln I met from Polis told me about it."

Spencer looked at him coolly. "And?"

Oh, she's going to make me work for it, he thought. He was liking this girl more and more. "And you should come," he said. "Bring your friends if you want." He grinned. "From what I can tell, you only have three, and it's not the kind of party where you're going to mess up the head count for hors d'oeuvres."

She actually burst out laughing at that. Her laugh was throaty and unselfconscious, although she reined it in pretty quickly and tried to cover it up with a cough when the teacher looked up and shot daggers at them.

It was the first time he'd ever made her laugh. He decided right then that he would do it as much as possible.

She grabbed his hand and wrote on his palm. He looked at it. It said "Spencer" in an elegant script (of course), with her phone number beneath it. YES, thought Bellamy.

She was looking at him. "I'm Spencer, by the way." She smiled.

"I know," he said. "I'm Bellamy."

"I know." The silence got a little awkward until Spencer broke the tension, saying, "So, text me the details and my three friends and I will swing by if we can."

Bellamy said, "Okay," and decided not to ruin their temporary truce by talking any more. He got out his bio homework and got to work.

At lunch, he ate out on the courtyard for the first time. The rest of the week, he'd preferred staying apart, eating at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. Lincoln and his friend Lexa had joined him a couple of times. But today, Bellamy just felt like being outside. Maybe it was the weather.

He glanced over at Spencer's table for only the 80th time, and she was glancing over at him just then, and he quickly looked away. Smooth, he kicked himself, real smooth.

He noticed that Clarke was sitting with Spencer and her friends – interesting. Wait, didn't Spencer say something about her dating that Emily girl? He thought about it for a second, then got out his phone and typed in the number on his hand.

 ** _We talked about this. You're only allowed to bring 3 friends._**

 ** _My god, woman, think of the canapes!_**

When Spencer's phone buzzed, he noticed that the four Rosewood girls tensed up instantly. That was weird. But as she read it and smiled, they all relaxed visibly. Spencer looked at him and shook her head.

His phone buzzed a few seconds later.

 ** _Will the canapes be upset if Clarke comes with Emily?_**

He texted her back:

 ** _The canape gods smile upon this pairing._**

 ** _By the way, here's the address. 8pmish tonight?_**

Instead of texting him back, she looked right at him, smiled, and gave him a little nod.

For the first time all week, Bellamy thought he could get used to this place.

He caught up with Octavia after lunch. "Hey – you good to get home after school today?"

"Yeah," she said. "Raven's working an afternoon shift, so Clarke's mom is going to drop us off at home and then Raven will swing by and take us to that party later. You're going to that, right?" Bellamy nodded. Then Octavia took his arm. "Hey, sorry about yesterday. I know all that stuff with Monty's car was because you were trying to take care of me."

"It didn't matter," said Bellamy, waving it away. "That's kind of my job."

She grinned at him. "You're getting to be such a cheeseball in your old age." He took a swing at her as she danced away. "See you at the party, big brother!"

When Bellamy pulled up outside the address Lincoln had given him, there were a handful of cars parked out front. He got off his bike and knocked on the front door.

Lincoln answered. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," said Bellamy. "How's it going?" Lincoln moved aside to let him in. "Not bad," he said. "Few people here already. Let me introduce you around."

He pointed out people around the room. "You know Lexa." Bellamy nodded to Lexa where she sat on a chair in the corner of the room. From the way she sat, relaxed yet ready to spring into action, he had the impression that this was her kingdom.

"That's Anya," Lincoln was saying, indicating a fierce-looking woman in the kitchen. "This is her place."

"Nice place," said Bellamy.

"Oh, shove it," said Anya. Bellamy grinned at Lincoln. "I like her."

Lincoln pointed out a handful of other people. "That's Nyko, Echo, and that little guy there is Artigas."

"This little guy can take you!" muttered Artigas, and everyone laughed.

Bellamy took a seat on the couch and settled in. This felt like a crew he could hang with. Everyone was relaxed, but he had the feeling they could all get in some serious trouble if they felt like it.

He and Lincoln got into a debate about the benefits of boxing vs street hockey, and Bellamy was pretty sure he was winning when there was a knock on the door.

Lexa nodded at Lincoln, who got up to answer the door again.

It was Spencer and her blonde friend – Anna? Bellamy thought. He didn't care, though, because for once Spencer didn't look like she'd been horseback riding, or yachting, or whatever she did outside of school. She was wearing a simple gray tank top and skinny jeans. Her hair was down.

He was screwed.

Spencer's eyes found him, then, and she smiled.

Lincoln introduced them around – he was a gracious host, especially considering that this wasn't his place – and Bellamy learned that the blonde girl's name was Hanna. (She seemed to be into Lincoln, but he was as stoic as ever. Bellamy decided he'd have to give Lincoln a hard time about that at some point.)

As Hanna threaded her arm through Lincoln's (earning an arched eyebrow from Lexa), Spencer made her way over to the couch. "Is this seat taken?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not sure," said Bellamy, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Down, boy!" yelled Anya from the kitchen, and Bellamy hastily put them down. Spencer snorted.

"You see, this girl I was talking to said she'd bring _three_ friends, and I only see one," Bellamy continued, ignoring the Anya-scolding.

"Ah, I see why you're confused," Spencer said, sitting down next to him. "Hanna over there –" she indicated the blonde, who had just whispered something in Artigas's ear, making him laugh, as she maintained her grip on Lincoln. "-she's as much trouble as three girls combined. So I consider her a three-fer."

"Hmm," said Bellamy, raising his eyebrows. "Maybe I'm talking to the wrong friend here!" He pretended to get up and Spencer grabbed his hand, pulling him back down. "I think you're in the right spot," she said in that low voice of hers.

"Well, maybe," Bellamy grinned. She was still holding his hand. As he settled back down, he angled his body so he was facing Spencer at a bit of an angle, their knees touching. "I'm not sure I can get over the pretentious rich-girl name, though…"

She whacked him with her free hand. "Says the guy whose sister was named for a Roman emperor!"

"For the _sister_ of a Roman emperor, which makes me – wait for it – hail, Bellamy!"

"God, you're so full of yourself," Spencer said. They were smiling at each other now. Bellamy leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I am," he said thoughtfully. "But tell me this – why is someone like you giving the time of day to a working-class guy like me?"

She looked at him as if she were thinking hard about how to respond. "I keep telling you, there's a lot you don't know about me." She leaned close to him, then, and Bellamy could smell her perfume. (Sandalwood? Was that a thing? That didn't sound like a real word, but it popped into his head all of a sudden.) "My last boyfriend," Spencer murmured right in his ear, "was Rosewood's foremost teen carpenter."

He looked at her. "A what now?"

Spencer said, "Teenage carpenter. There's a niche market for that here, apparently." She shrugged. "Is that working class enough for you? Or do you have some kind of weird hangup about carpenters?"

Bellamy inched a little closer. "Not that I know of." He paused. "Do you?" Spencer opened her mouth to reply, but just then there was a knock on the door.

As Lincoln went to answer it, Hanna came over and plunked down next to Spencer, bouncing them both on the couch. "I thought this was supposed to be a party!" she whispered. "There are like 6 people here."

Bellamy looked a little sheepish. "Um…I might have oversold it a little," he said. Both girls whirled on him. "Hey, hey – are you having fun, though? Even if it's less a Grounder rager and more an intimate family gathering?"

"I guess," Hanna shrugged. "I'm kind of into that Lincoln guy – hey, you're friends with him, right? Can you talk to him for me?"

"What? No way," said Bellamy. "I'm terrible at that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, so is Spencer. I'll just leave you two to being perfect for each other, then!" and she bounced away to sit by Artigas again.

Emily and Clarke were at the door, standing in that awkward "we just started dating and we both want to touch each other but we don't know if it's too soon" kind of way.

Spencer said "Clarke! Emily!" and stood up to go say hi. She noticed Bellamy looking at her, leaned down and put a hand to his face as she whispered, "I'm going to go talk to my friends now. Maybe if you're lucky, we'll find each other at this raging party later." Then she walked over to Clarke and Emily, as Lincoln made the usual introductions.

Bellamy knew Clarke pretty well – she'd been best friends with his sister for years now. He wasn't surprised to see her dating a girl, and to be honest he didn't care. They looked happy, and the way Emily looked he couldn't imagine anyone (guy or girl) _not_ wanting to date her.

But he did think it was weird that as Clarke's gaze fell on Lexa, she took a quick little breath and seemed to freeze in place for a second.

Then Clarke saw him and waved. Now she did take Emily's hand and pulled her over, Spencer following them. Bellamy stood up and gave Clarke a hug. "Hey, Bell!" Clarke said happily. "Feels like I've hardly seen you this year. Have you met Emily?"

"Any friend of Spencer's and Clarke's is a friend of mine," he said, flashing her one of his best smiles. Then, to Clarke: "Where's O?"

"She's with Raven, parking the car," said Emily. "They should be here any second."

Bellamy saw the way Spencer tensed at that. He stood close beside her and nudged her with his shoulder. "Aw, are you scared of little Octavia?" he joked.

"Who you callin' little?" said Octavia, who had just appeared in the doorway, Raven right behind her.

Then she noticed how close Bellamy and Spencer were standing to one another. "Aw, really?" she said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

That made everyone laugh (except the ever-stoic Lincoln and Lexa, who at least cracked a smile), and when Octavia and Raven had made the rounds to meet everyone, the atmosphere was pretty relaxed considering the three groups that were coming together.

It definitely wouldn't go down as one of the great ragers of Bellamy's life, but it was a pretty fun night. He enjoyed watching Lincoln squirm as Hanna ramped up her level of flirting. He couldn't quite figure out Lexa's deal, but he found it interesting how she maintained a distance, yet seemed to be aware of everything that was happening around her.

The one embarrassing moment of the evening was when he walked out on the back patio to get some air and accidentally interrupted Clarke and Emily mid-makeout. Clarke had Emily pressed against the house, and when Bellamy cleared his throat awkwardly it took them a second to come up for air. "Oh HI, Bellamy!" Clarke said. "Did you need something? Right this very minute?" "Sorry!" Bellamy practically squeaked, and he got back inside in a hurry.

He could tell that Raven was preoccupied with something – probably the new job, or the fact that she was at what was (except for Anya) a high school party. And Octavia was Octavia – she pretty much just messed with people, hustling Nyko at cards and occasionally he could have sworn he saw her checking Lincoln out. That might have been his overprotective big brother deal, though.

And when he offered Spencer a ride home on his bike, and she actually said yes, and he felt her arms tight around his abs, her warm body pressed against his back all the way home…when she shook her long hair out of his spare helmet, and looked at him with that knowing smirk, and kissed him on the cheek and whispered "Thanks for the ride…Princess" before sauntering into her house…well, in that moment Bellamy Blake had never been so grateful for study hall in his life.

Next chapter: Abby! (She's not going to do, like, principal-type stuff. Don't worry.)


	7. Chapter 7: Abby

Abigail Griffin rushed out the door balancing her coffee in one hand and a stack of folders in the other, then turned back. "Have a good day, Clarke!" she called up to her daughter, who was just tumbling out of bed.

She was always rushing _out_ the door of their house. When she took the time to think about it (which, admittedly, was just this side of "never"), Abby wished that she could rush _into_ their house more. And maybe Clarke would be there, and they could talk about the new school, and their lives, and it would be nice.

But it was just before 9am on a Saturday, and here she was, rushing to the school as always.

Abby could think of better ways to spend a Saturday than an all-day curriculum planning meeting. But things like this were a necessary part of bringing the three schools together.

The transition seemed to be going fairly well, so far. There had been a few fights (more than one involving the same student, a John Murphy), but nothing serious. And teachers weren't reporting major issues in the classrooms, either.

Abby made a mental note to schedule a mixer of some kind, a chance for everyone to get together informally. They'd done one last week after the big announcement, but it would be good to see how people interacted now that school was back in session.

She pulled up at the school, spilled her coffee on her hand, swore, and went inside.

The meeting was fine – Abby was largely able to tune out the details, instead focusing on the interpersonal dynamics at play. She was lost in thought when her phone buzzed. It was Marcus Kane, an old colleague and now an administrator in a neighboring district. "Excuse me," Abby said as she stepped out into the hall.

"Marcus, hi!" she said.

"Abby, it's good to hear your voice," said Marcus. "Say, I was wondering – I'll be over your way later today. Would you want to grab a drink?"

Abby said, "Sure, sounds great! I'm actually at Rosewood High all day today. Want to meet up in Rosewood after my meeting? I saw a place not far from here…"

They made arrangements, and then Abby squared her shoulders and went back in to talk curriculum.

It didn't make sense for her to drive all the way home and change, then go back to Rosewood, so she just showed up a little early in the clothes she'd been in all day. It was more casual than she would have preferred for a drink with an old friend, just jeans, boots and a top, but it would have to do.

Abby spotted the Hollis Bar & Grill and found a good parking spot not too far away. It looked like a decent place to get a glass of wine and some pub food.

She pushed the door open, noting that the place was nearly empty – and then, as her eyes fell on the bartender, she instantly stopped dead in her tracks.

Abby wasn't usually into women, but as the bartender stretched her arms over her head and worked her neck from side to side, she had the fleeting thought that this woman was objectively gorgeous. And she could only see her back! Well, and the way her tank top was riding up as she stretched, showing Abby a hint of caramel skin above her skinny jeans and – was that a tattoo? And her toned arms, and back to those skinny jeans for just a second because damn, and –

"Abby?" The bartender had turned around, and wait, she knew her? And then a lightning bolt of words hit Abby all at once: OHMYGODIT'SRAVEN.

Raven was looking at her funny. She looked shocked to see Abby there, but not nearly as shocked as Abby was. "Are you okay?" She came around the bar and walked over, with genuine concern in her eyes.

Abby finally recovered from the double shock of a) blatantly checking out a random woman, and b) finding out that it wasn't a random woman, it was _Raven_ for crying out loud! She shook her head. "I'm good," she said, surprised by how husky her voice sounded. She cleared her throat. "I think my eyes were just adjusting to coming in from the sun."

Now that Raven was right in front of her, she didn't seem to know what to do. She was still looking at Abby, but now she fidgeted with her hands in that way she always seemed to, starting to put them in her pockets and then pulling them out again.

"Well…come on in!" Raven said a little too brightly. She retreated behind the bar. Abby pulled up a barstool.

"I didn't know you worked here," Abby began, at the same time Raven asked, "What can I get for you?"

"I just started," said Raven, at the same time Abby said, "Do you have a cabernet?"

They laughed. Raven pointed at Abby as if to say "You go first."

"My turn?" said Abby with a smile. Raven nodded. "So the other day when you said you had a new job, this was it?" Abby said.

Raven nodded again.

"You can speak now," Abby said. "I'm done talking over you."

Raven grinned. "I'm pretty sure I was talking over _you_."

"Are you even 21?" Abby blurted.

Raven pretended to count on her fingers. "Carry the 8…yep, the math checks out. I just turned 21 over the summer. Which means–" she gestured at the bar behind her – "that I can serve you one of these delicious libations, if you'd like."

Abby checked her watch. "I'm meeting someone, but I'm a little early. Maybe I'll just have a glass of the cab while I wait."

Raven poured her a generous glass. "Home pour for my home slice," she said as she slid it in front of Abby.

"I could pretend like I knew what that meant," Abby said. "But I think we'd both know I was lying."

"That's okay," said Raven. "Half the time I don't know what I'm saying." They smiled at each other, and Abby felt a familiar tug that she ignored.

The door opened. Abby turned. "Marcus!" she said. She rose from her barstool and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Abby, so wonderful to see you!" he said.

He pulled up the stool next to her. When Abby turned back, Raven was suddenly a mile away at the other end of the bar. "Excuse me, miss?" said Marcus. "Could I please see a drink menu?"

Raven pointed to the bar behind her. "That's what's on tap, that's our wine selection, or I can make you a drink with anything up here," she said (a bit brusquely, Abby thought).

"I'll just have a pint of the seasonal amber," Marcus said. When Raven handed him his drink, he said, "Abby, would you like to sit at a table so we can talk?" Abby shrugged in agreement, and tried her hardest not to look back at Raven as they walked over to a table.

She failed.

And for several minutes, as she tried valiantly to make small talk with Kane, her mind was drawn over and over again to the look on Raven's face as she walked away.

It was good catching up with Marcus again, Abby told herself. It had been a long time since she'd gotten to sit down with another adult and just…talk. (And a long time since she'd spent more than an hour, socially, with a man.)

But unfortunately, she was facing the bar, and her eyes kept drifting over to the lovely young woman behind it.

She saw Raven greeting each patron who came through the door with a smile and, often, a quip. (That told Abby she was making the effort to get to know the regulars, with her usual charm.)

She saw how Raven smoothly moved along the entire length of the bar, pouring drinks, deftly refilling glasses, joking with the crowd as more and more people came in for the evening.

And she saw (but pretended not to see) how Raven's eyes kept darting over to where Abby sat. Not in a "Does your drink need freshening?" way (they had a server for that), but in an "I know how you're feeling and yes I feel it too and yes it's confusing and what are we going to do?" kind of a way.

At least, that's how Abby would have thought of it. If she were thinking of it.

Which she most definitely wasn't.

"…things at Rosewood High?" Marcus was saying.

"Hmm?" said Abby. "Oh – you know, they're not too bad overall. Frankly, I expected more scuffles among the various factions. But it's actually been pretty smooth so far."

"That's good," said Marcus. "Due, no doubt, to their astute leader." He raised his glass in a silent tribute.

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Abby, waving away the compliment.

They carried on a friendly conversation for a while, until Marcus looked at his watch and said, "Well, I should probably get going."

"Are you sure?" said Abby. (She wanted to stay at the Hollis Bar & Grill, for reasons she couldn't even articulate to herself yet.)

Marcus nodded, thoughtfully. "Abby – it was good to see you." He gripped her hand for a moment. "If you need a friend to talk to – I'm always here for you."

Abby stood up and gave Marcus a hug. It had been a pleasant couple of hours with an old friend.

On his way out, she saw Marcus settle up with their server. When she came by their table next, she said, "Oh, your man friend already took care of everything. So you're all set here." Abby smiled, grateful for Marcus's generosity. She got up to leave…

…but some force she couldn't name, the cabernet or perhaps something stronger, compelled her to grab a seat at the less-crowded end of the bar.

When Raven's eyes met hers, quickly scanned for Kane, and realized Abby was alone, she smiled. Actually, it was more of a smirk. And Abby quickly realized she was out of her depth as Raven slowly made her way over, leaned over the bar, and said quietly, "What else can I get for you tonight, Abby?"

Abby gulped. "Um…I guess…another glass of the cab?" Raven smiled knowingly.

As the night wore on, people filtered out of the Hollis Bar & Grill.

But Abby stayed.

She stayed, and she drank.

She stayed, and she watched.

She stayed, and she talked to Raven.

At one point, Abby asked, "You never told me when you were in my office the other day: Do you still like fixing things?" Raven was a little way down the bar, refilling a drink for one of the few patrons left, and she came closer. "Fixing things?" Raven said.

"Yeah," said Abby. "I remember…you used to talk about fixing things. You and your dad."

Raven got a wistful look in her eye. "He taught me everything I know." She threw a quick look over her shoulder to make sure no one needed her, then leaned on the bar. "I used to take things apart, then try to put them back together so they worked even better than before. I would do it with anything that had mechanical parts: a bike, a toy, didn't matter."

Abby smiled, listening. Raven never opened up like this anymore. Not to her.

Raven chuckled a little then. "I remember one time, my aunt gave me a music box when she was visiting. I spent all afternoon up in my room, taking it apart, figuring out what made the notes work the way they did."

She grinned and looked right at Abby then, pure mischief. "When I came downstairs and proudly showed them how I'd reworked it to play _Highway to Hell_ , my aunt was horrified!"

Abby burst out laughing. "You didn't!"

"Oh honey, I so did," said Raven. Then she got quiet. "My mom was kinda mad too. But my dad…my dad thought it was the greatest thing ever."

Abby smiled at her, resting a hand on top of Raven's on the bar. "He was really proud of you, you know. I only met him a couple of times, but it was obvious."

Raven curved a thumb over the back of Abby's hand and stroked it absently as she looked down. "Thanks."

Then Raven seemed to realize what she was doing and pulled away, straightening up and looking around to see what needed tending to. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Abby, it's almost closing time. Do you want me to call you a cab…or do you mind sticking around for a few minutes while I close up? You know I'm going your way anyway, and I don't cost nearly as much as an Uber."

"A ride would be great," said Abby. She could figure out how to get her car in the morning. She didn't have to be at work for once, and she was dimly aware that that was a very good thing right now.

Abby offered to help, but Raven waved her off. She poured Abby a glass of water, and Abby sipped it while she watched Raven close up.

"Ready?" said Raven. Abby nodded, and together they walked into the cool autumn night.

Raven made sure Abby was safely in the passenger seat before going around to the driver's side. When she got in and buckled up, she grinned at Abby for a second.

"What?" Abby said, unable to stop herself from grinning back.

"Nothing," said Raven, shaking her head. "I just never saw you this way before. It's almost cute what a mess you are."

At that, Abby actually laughed out loud. Then she thought about it and said quietly, "I really am a mess, though. For real."

Out of her eye, she could see Raven biting her bottom lip as she thought about how to respond.

Then Abby felt a hand on her knee. And Raven said, "Nope. You've been through some terrible stuff." She paused, then said more quietly, "But you're the most amazing woman I know."

They rode the rest of the way in silence, Abby's brain playing that last sentence back on an infinite loop. Raven eventually had to move her hand to steer around a curve, and the spot where she'd held Abby's knee felt cold in her absence.

When they got to the Griffins' house, Abby almost invited Raven in for a drink. The words were on her lips – but somehow she knew this wasn't the right time. So she fumbled getting her keys out of her purse, and Raven laughed and said, "Okay, drunkie, I'll make sure you can get your key in the front door, but you're on your own from there. Got it?"

Raven put the car in park and waited for Abby at the front of the car. They walked up the front walk and, true to her word, Raven made sure Abby got her keys in the door and unlocked it.

Then she said (while doing that nervous thing with her hands again), "Okay, so –"

And Abby kissed her.

She did it without preamble, without conscious thought.

She did it because Raven was kind, and brave, and let's face it pretty damn hot.

She did it because just for that one moment, all the reasons it was a terrible idea just seemed so…unimportant.

She just stood on her tiptoes, put a gentle hand on Raven's arm to steady herself, and kissed her.

To Abby, it felt like waking up, or maybe even like coming back to life. She could smell Raven's conditioner mixed with the alcohol smells of the bar, could feel her tight abdominal muscles where Abby's other hand fisted in her shirt, could taste her lips as Abby's moved against her. She felt liquid heat pool in her belly. She _wanted_ this.

And Raven did not kiss her back.

This thought dawned on Abby with the subtlety of a thunderclap, and suddenly she stepped back, horrified.

"Abby–" said Raven, reaching for her hand. But Abby gasped, "I'm so sorry," ran into the house and shut the door.

She could hear Raven frozen on the other side of the door, and then a minute later she heard her car pull out of the driveway.

She went to bed, shaken and fully aware that she would relive every part of tonight over and over tomorrow.

So, as it turned out, Abigail Griffin _did_ run into her house that night.

Just not in a way she would ever have imagined.

Next chapter: Lexa! (Or, I try to tackle being emotionally distant yet relatable)


	8. Chapter 8: Lexa

It was early on a chilly fall morning. Fog curled up from the ground, and the grass glittered with a light frost.

Lexa enjoyed these early, solitary walks from the bus stop to school. The solitude cleared her head, and she found the tree-lined streets of Rosewood peaceful at this hour.

She and Lincoln were at the mercy of the bus schedule, but they made different choices. Lexa preferred the early morning quiet and chose to take the earlier bus, while Lincoln went to spar at the gym and caught the later bus that would get him to school just as the bell rang.

Over the last couple of weeks, Lexa had begun using this time to walk around Rosewood, making careful observations and assessing where her intervention might be required. She began her rounds now.

She passed the nurse's office, and smiled as she thought of how Nyko had insisted on staying and helping as the nurse patched up another student during a fight last week.

She passed the school office, and through the open office door she could see Principal Griffin at her desk, her forehead creased and a hand to her head. Lexa wondered at that: she'd been working hard to keep the peace at Rosewood High behind the scenes, quietly intervening when it seemed like tensions were about to boil over, but perhaps things were beyond her control now if the principal was this on edge. Lexa couldn't be everywhere at once, and a student named Murphy had been responsible for instigating several incidents. There seemed to be an alarming undercurrent of Grounder hatred behind some of the fighting. That might be what was weighing on Principal Griffin, or perhaps there was something else on her mind…

Next she went through the cafeteria, stopping to chat with the staff in the kitchen. Lexa had gotten to know them a little during her early morning rounds, and they smiled and chatted in a friendly way for a bit. One of them slipped her a Snack Pack and a spoon, and Lexa ate it as she continued her walk.

She passed the library, and sure enough Clarke Griffin was in there, head bent over her schoolbooks. Clarke had also been arriving early the last week or so – her mother was the principal, and Clarke had been riding in with her in the mornings. They were usually here when Lexa's bus arrived. Lexa found the blonde girl fascinating for reasons she couldn't quite identify, even to herself. But she walked on.

Then she looked through the windows to the pool and saw Paige McCullers, doing laps all alone. Lexa paused there for a moment and watched, eating her Snack Pack and admiring the power and grace with which Paige cut through the water.

Paige also fascinated her, but in a different way than the enigma that was Clarke Griffin. She had this blend of confidence and hesitation, and Lexa enjoyed the resulting tension. Lexa recalled the way that Paige had calmly defused the situation when Lexa threw a boy up against the lockers, and how everyone walked away from that feeling okay.

And she liked Paige's laugh, and the intensity with which she practiced swimming, and how she ducked her head and looked away after saying something sweet, and how she always seemed to smell a tiny bit like chlorine even when she hadn't been in the pool for hours, like it was woven into her DNA somehow.

And yeah, so maybe Lexa had a little crush on her.

She was not immune to such feelings. There had been others. But Rosewood High was still unfamiliar territory, and tensions were brewing – she could feel it. Lexa knew she had to do whatever was necessary to protect not just her Polis High crew, but everyone in these halls.

And that meant she needed to stay focused.

Lexa reluctantly tore her eyes away from the girl in the water, returned her spoon to the cafeteria and expressed her thanks for the pudding, and went to find somewhere to sit until class started.

Between second and third period that day, Principal Griffin nodded when she saw Lexa in the hall. Then she seemed to remember something, and as Lexa passed her, the principal grasped her arm (lightly enough that Lexa refrained from retaliating) and said "Lexa, I'm glad I ran into you! Would you mind coming with me for one second?" She strode off down the hall, throwing a small sad smile over her shoulder at Lexa as she went.

It was Lexa's first time in the principal's office. She noted that it was starkly decorated and silently approved of its lack of adornment.

"Lexa," Abby began, sitting down at her desk as she gestured for Lexa to take the chair opposite her. "We all knew this transition wouldn't be easy for everyone…" She trailed off as if she were thinking about how to continue. Lexa simply regarded her calmly. Abby said, "But until recently, I fooled myself into thinking that everything was fine. The occasional fistfight? Pretty normal for a high school of this size, and to be expected when three schools come together like this."

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Lately, the rumors I've been hearing make me think that things are not okay. There seems to be…"

"Trouble brewing?" Lexa said.

"Yes, exactly," said Abby. "And your name keeps coming up." Lexa leaned forward, ready to defend herself, but Abby held up a hand. "In a _good_ way. I keep hearing about how you have this ability to be a calming presence, to inspire others to be their better selves. It makes me think back to the assembly, when you were the voice that united us all."

Abby watched Lexa as she continued, "And it got me thinking – maybe you can do that again, but in a more official capacity."

Lexa said, "What did you have in mind?"

Abby rose and came around her desk, leaning against it so she was right near Lexa. "I was thinking we could start by forming a school safety committee, to help prevent violence in our school. We'd include a student representative from each of the constituent schools, as well as teachers and administrators–"

"And staff?" Lexa interjected.

Abby considered that. "Who did you have in mind?"

"The cafeteria workers are in a position to hear things that the teachers don't. And some of them are quite wise," Lexa said.

Abby nodded. "I like that idea." She paused. "Lexa, I'd like you to represent Polis High. And more than that, I'd see you as a leader on this committee, not just the student representative. I'd also appreciate your input on who the other two student representatives should be."

Lexa considered it, and Abby read that on her face. "I can see that you need some time to think about it. Do you think you could let me know by tomorrow if you'd be interested?"

Lexa nodded and rose from her chair. "I should get to class." Abby opened the door for her. Lexa turned back as she reached it. "Principal Griffin…thank you."

And this time, Abby's smile was genuine.

At lunch, Lexa sat alone in a corner where she could consider the principal's request and also observe the dynamics in the room quietly. She spotted John Murphy glaring at her. That one is trouble, she thought.

Suddenly, someone sat down next to her. "Hi," said Paige.

"Hi," said Lexa, startled out of her thoughts. "How was your swim this morning?"

Paige looked surprised. "You…saw me?"

Lexa nodded. "I prefer to arrive early and walk around the school, observing."

Paige smiled and shook her head. "Of course you do. And your normal route takes you by the pool?"

Lexa looked away, uncharacteristically shy. "Well…it did today."

Then she looked back up. Their eyes met. And Paige cleared her throat and looked away.

"So…I heard there was a party a couple of weekends ago," she said.

"I wouldn't know," Lexa said. "You may have guessed, I'm not exactly big on the Rosewood party scene…if there is such a thing."

"You were at this one," Paige said quietly. "I heard Hanna and Emily talking about it, and they definitely said your name."

Lexa realized what she meant. "Oh! No, that wasn't a party. It was just…I was at my friend Anya's house with our usual crowd, and then Bellamy and Spencer and Clarke and Emily and a few other people came over."

Paige grabbed her lunch. "That sure sounds like a party to me." She stood up. "Look, I'm not trying to make a big deal of this, but I felt like there was something happening between us…and it's really hard for me to read you. So I don't know if you feel the same way, or if you do but you don't think your friends would be cool with it, and – I don't know. Forget it."

And she walked away before Lexa could respond, or even process what had just happened. Was Paige mad because she hadn't invited her over? She hadn't invited anyone over, and she felt a small flare of irritation. Or because she didn't know what Lexa was feeling for her? That was perhaps more reasonable – Lexa was driven by her head, not her heart, and she knew that made her difficult to read.

She sighed to herself. It would be difficult to explain why she had to hold herself…apart. But that's how it had to be.

The rest of her classes were fairly uneventful that day, and Lexa brooded over Abby's question and the situation with Paige. She was somewhat unfocused at field hockey practice, and she saw Clarke eyeing her a couple of times, looking concerned. But Lexa was naturally graceful on the field, so she didn't think anyone else noticed.

After practice, she decided to cut across the soccer field, as it provided a more direct route to her bus stop. The days were getting shorter, and she knew soon she'd be making that walk in the dark. Today it was dusk, and the field was mostly in shadow.

Suddenly, Lexa was blind. Someone had put a bag of some kind over her head, blotting out the light. There were two of them – Lexa could hear two sets of footsteps. One of them held her arms tight against her sides and whispered roughly in her ear, "You need to learn to mind your own business, girl" as the one in front of her punched her in the stomach, hard.

It was intended to make her feel helpless.

It did not.

Lexa felt a blaze of anger at their cowardice. Using the one holding her arms for leverage, she quickly reared back with both legs in the air and kicked the one in front of her in the solar plexus. She heard the breath whoosh out of him as he fell backwards.

The impact knocked Lexa and her other attacker to the ground, and she snapped her head back, hitting him in the face. She felt something in his face crack, his arms loosened around her, and she seized the momentary advantage to leap nimbly to her feet and rip the pillowcase (that's what it was) off her head.

Then the other guy tackled her from the side, and she went down hard. She kicked up, connecting with his shin, but he sat on top of her and raised an arm, ready to punch her –

\- when someone knocked into _him_ from the side, and he flew off Lexa.

"Really? Two against one? What kind of cowards are you?" yelled Paige. John Murphy glared back at her from his new position on the ground. His friend lay a short distance away, cradling his broken nose.

Paige reached out a hand to Lexa and helped her up. Murphy wouldn't quit, though. He grabbed Lexa's field hockey stick and rolled to his feet, circling and watching both of them.

Paige and Lexa prepared to take him on together. Lexa kept a wary eye on the one the ground in case he rejoined the fight.

Suddenly, there was a bright light and a loud noise. They got brighter and louder until Lexa realized that it was a motorcycle driving right onto the field.

The bike stopped next to Paige and Lexa, and Bellamy nodded to them. "Hey, guys," he said. "What's up?"

Then he looked at Murphy and the other boy. "Looks like it's 3 to 2 now. You like those odds?"

They glared back at him, and Murphy spat, "Grounder pounder!"

"That's clever," said Bellamy, "but a, sadly inaccurate and b, I'd rather have a quarter pounder."

Paige snorted and said, "Put the stick down and get the hell out of here."

Still trembling with rage, Murphy threw the stick down and stalked off, without a backwards look at his friend, who was scrambling after him.

Bellamy looked at Lexa and Paige. "Seriously, though…anyone craving a quarter pounder right now? My treat." Lexa looked back at him, adrenaline still flooding through her. She saw that Paige was unable to resist cracking a smile.

Bellamy said, "Well, I have to say – you guys handled yourselves awesomely back there. I don't know what this bullshit is that Murphy's spouting, but I'd love to string that guy up one of these days."

Lexa walked over to stand face to face with him, nearly blinded by the bright light of his headlamp. She held out a hand. Bellamy shook it somberly. "Thank you," said Lexa.

"Like I said, you were obviously doing fine on your own. I just can't stand to miss a party," Bellamy said. "And that guy needs to be taken down a peg." He looked at both of them, releasing Lexa's hand. "You guys okay?" They nodded. "I'll see you around, then," Bellamy said, and he took off into the night.

Lexa watched him go, impressed. Then she turned back to Paige and, without hesitating, pulled her into a tight hug. "And thank you, too," murmured Lexa against Paige's neck.

She could feel Paige relax against her after the initial surprise wore off. Paige stroked Lexa's hair lightly. "You would have done the same for me. And that was an awesome donkey kick. And I saw you heading this way, and I was coming to apologize for being weird earlier, and–"

And she was cut off by Lexa's lips pressing against hers, urgent and yet gentle at the same time, seeking Paige's permission. When Lexa felt Paige's lips part slightly, felt her sigh and shift and press their bodies closer together, she deepened the kiss, skimming her tongue lightly over Paige's lips then sucking gently on her bottom lip.

Lexa pulled back then, just a little, so they were eye to eye, still embracing. She tilted her forehead against Paige's and said, in a voice cloudy with emotion, "I'm sorry." When Paige started to protest, Lexa cut her off with a quick kiss, then continued: "Please let me finish. I don't apologize lightly."

She took a deep breath. "I know I've only been at this school a short time, but I sense that there's something behind these apparently random fistfights and attacks. And I've sort of...started thinking of myself as the school's protector. So I was hesitant to admit my feelings for you because I thought that it was better that way, if I kept a little distance."

Lexa trailed her fingers up the side of Paige's face. "But after tonight, I think it's better for me if I keep you close. If I draw on your strength as well as my own." She paused, then said more quietly, "Would you be okay with that?"

And suddenly, she found herself on the ground yet again, and this time she didn't mind, because Paige was kissing her breathless and for a few beautiful minutes, Lexa was just a teenage girl and nothing else mattered.

Then Paige pulled back and said, still out of breath, "That was a yes, if you couldn't tell." She grinned and stood up with a groan, then helped Lexa up for the second time that evening. "We should get you to the bus stop, huh?"

Lexa looked at the time. "Ah, you're right! Okay, just one more kiss. Okay, just one more. Okay, just one more…"

She made it to the bus, but barely. Paige watched her until the bus was out of sight, and Lexa could see her smile even after that.

The next morning, when Lexa got to school, she marched straight to Principal Griffin's office. Abby looked up, surprised. When she saw it was Lexa, she leaned back, waiting.

"I'm in," said Lexa.

And she smiled.

Next chapter: Everyone, again! Because I want to keep all the little subplots moving.


	9. Chapter 9: Everyone, Again

"This is great!" Spencer Hastings said to Hanna and Aria as they stood and started filing out of the gym with the rest of the crowd.

And what a crowd it was – even larger than the assembly a few weeks ago when the merger of the three high schools had been announced. The bleachers were packed, all the folding chairs that had been brought in were full, and people had even been standing in the back.

The vibe was different than the last assembly, too, Spencer mused. The first one had been somewhat tense, as no one knew how the combination of three high schools was going to play out. But this one had felt much more collaborative.

The principal of Rosewood High, Abigail Griffin, had called the meeting as part of a larger initiative to address a string of incidents involving fistfights and attacks on students. There was an undercurrent of animosity feeding the attacks, mainly toward the students from Polis High, whose mascot was the Grounders.

Students, teachers, parents, staff, and community members were all invited to the assembly, where Abby had introduced the School Safety Committee. The committee was made up of 9 members: Abby, Mrs. Welch (Rosewood's longtime English teacher), the school nurse, the guidance counselor, a cafeteria worker, Ashley Marin (Hanna's mom) as the parent representative, as well as three student representatives, one from each of the high schools: Bellamy from Arkadia Academy, Paige from Rosewood, and Lexa from Polis, who was co-leader of the committee with Abby.

Spencer smiled as she thought of how adorably awkward Bellamy had been onstage. This wasn't his scene at all, but Lexa had recommended him after he helped defuse an incident that had led to two students' expulsion.

After Abby had introduced the committee members, she'd given a brief overview of their high-level plan, which included developing a mission statement and a code of conduct, a safe way for students to report violations, monitoring of "hot spots" where students might be at risk, and most importantly fostering a culture of inclusion and respect everywhere on campus.

Then she'd asked Lexa to come to the microphone, and a hush fell over the crowd, many of whom remembered how passionately Lexa had spoken at the last assembly about the need to come together as a unified whole.

And she didn't disappoint, revealing her own vulnerability as she recounted the incident on the soccer field when two boys had attacked her – not just for being a "Grounder," but for everything she'd quietly been doing behind the scenes to prevent further violence.

(Spencer recalled the adoring look on Paige McCullers's face as Lexa spoke and vaguely wondered what was going on there.)

Once again, Lexa's speech had united the entire crowd. After she wrapped up, Abby led a round of applause and then told everyone that there was an informal mixer in the cafeteria, and if anyone had questions they could talk to a member of the committee.

Spencer lost sight of Hanna and Aria in the crowd, and then suddenly a hand was grasping hers, pulling her out of the herd and into an empty classroom.

"Hey," Bellamy said. He looked a little…nervous? as Spencer pushed the door shut behind them.

"Hi," said Spencer. "You did great up there."

Bellamy exhaled in relief. "Really? Thank god. I felt like an idiot."

"Well, you're my idiot," said Spencer with a wicked grin, leaning in to kiss him – but then she pulled back. "Hey – shouldn't you be in the cafeteria, Mr. Big Important Committee Member?" He actually blushed a little at that. She couldn't help teasing him a little more, trailing her fingers up his arm as she said, "People might start to doubt your commitment to this cause."

Suddenly, his hands were at her waist and she felt the door against her back. "Oh, I'm very committed," Bellamy murmured in her ear, right before his lips were on Spencer's.

Now he was the one doing the teasing, keeping his touch on her waist light and his kisses even lighter, pulling back each time and leaving her wanting more. Then Spencer put a hand on his chest as she remembered something she'd wanted to ask him: "Why didn't you tell me about the thing on the soccer field? When you were basically a hero coming to the rescue?"

He looked embarrassed again and tried to wave it away, muttering, "It was no big deal."

Spencer looked up at him then, and something changed in her face. Her eyes burned with the usual Spencer Hastings intensity, but there was a new spark behind it as she said in a low voice, "Do you want to get out of here?"

Bellamy cleared his throat. "I can honestly say, I'm physically incapable of saying n–" and Spencer pressed her lips to his, harder this time. "Shut up," she whispered. She took him by the hand and pulled him through the halls and out to the parking lot, where they got onto his bike in charged silence and drove off.

The other two student representatives on the safety committee were in the cafeteria, actually representing. Paige and Lexa stood together, greeting parents and students and others as they approached them. Some people expressed their support, others asked how they could get involved, and all of them complimented Lexa on her speech.

That made her blush. And her blush made Paige smile. She was constantly amazed by the girl beside her – so wise beyond her years, so inspirational, and yet sometimes she was just a teenage girl. The two of them stood close, and every time their fingers brushed, or their shoulders bumped, Paige felt an almost electric shock. She curled her fingers into Lexa's hand at one point, subtly, secretly, but she saw Lexa's small smile and returned it with one of her own.

"I'm going to go get some punch for us," Paige whispered in Lexa's ear. Lexa nodded. There was a small break in the crowd of people around them, and her friend Lincoln came over from where he'd been standing on the outskirts.

Ever since Lexa had been attacked, Lincoln had been more protective than usual. Whenever Lexa told him to back off, he shook his head. "I should have been there," was all he would say. Eventually she snapped at him, "I can handle myself!" and that seemed to get through to him because he backed off a little. Lincoln was like family to her, and while she sincerely appreciated his desire to watch her back, he was like an overprotective brother.

They nodded in greeting. "How's it going?" Lincoln said.

"It's going well, I think," said Lexa. Her eyes drifted to Paige involuntarily, and of course Paige was looking back at her. They both flushed a little as their eyes met across the room.

Lincoln noticed. "I've been wondering," he said, "How did that start? I'm used to you holding yourself…apart."

Lexa was still looking at Paige as she said, a bit absently, "I just…let go. She's strong. She makes me stronger, not weaker like I expected." She looked at him then, the ghost of a smile on her face. "You should try it."

Lincoln snorted. "How?"

Lexa nodded at Hanna, who was laughing with her mom and Aria across the room. "I've generally found it best to start by talking."

Just then, Hanna looked over. Her eyes met Lincoln's…and she rolled them, said something to her mom and Aria, and stalked in the opposite direction from Lincoln, toward the snack table.

Lexa laughed and Lincoln flashed her a look. "Good luck with that," she said, smiling at Paige as she returned with their punch.

Lincoln took a deep breath. You can do this, he told himself. You've faced scarier things than Hanna Marin.

He walked over to the snack table and stood next to her. "Hey," he said, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Dear diary: Today, he actually spoke to me!" said Hanna, hand on her heart dramatically. She looked at him. "What do you want?"

"Um…I'm not sure." He looked at the table. "Maybe one of those little quiches?" He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye.

"They're not bad," she said, handing him two on a little plate. "But for real though. Are you actually talking to me?"

He sighed. "Yes." He met her eyes, a little hesitantly. "I'm not very good at it," he admitted.

Hanna softened a bit at that. "Well, lucky for you I can talk enough for both of us." She linked arms with him, a move that surprised him, and steered them to a less-crowded corner of the room where they stood facing one another. "What would you be doing right now if you weren't here?"

"I'd be at the gym," Lincoln said without hesitating.

"Doing what?"

"Probably sparring with Gustus, my buddy who works there," he said. When she wrinkled her nose in confusion, he explained simply, "I box."

"Oh," she said. "Why? What do you like about it?"

He considered that for a minute. "I like feeling like I'm making progress. It keeps me sharp. And, in a weird way, I guess it helps me feel closer to whoever I'm sparring with – I'm not much of a talker."

"No kidding," said Hanna. "That's the longest speech I've ever heard you make."

Half-joking, Lincoln said, "You should try it sometime. Boxing, I mean."

Hanna looked at him. "Give me a minute to change out of these heels and we can borrow my mom's car."

He couldn't hide his surprise, and she laughed a little. "She can catch a ride with someone, and I have some gym shoes in my locker. Meet me out front in a few?" She snatched the remaining quiche from his plate, popped it in her mouth and grinned at him as she turned and walked away.

Lincoln stared after her for a second, unaware that he was grinning back.

At the assembly, Clarke Griffin had been sitting with her two best friends, Raven Reyes and Octavia Blake, and her…something, Emily Fields. She was proud of her mother, and she was absolutely blown away by Lexa's speech. At times, it seemed like Lexa was speaking to her and her alone. She was starting to get used to these strange moments of connection with Lexa, though.

Emily and Clarke held hands the entire time, except when they were applauding. It was easy not to focus on the Lexa connection when Emily's finger was stroking the back of Clarke's hand, when Emily was looking at her with those big brown eyes.

But the best moment by far was when Emily leaned over and whispered in her ear, "My mom's visiting my dad in Texas this weekend." Clarke raised an eyebrow at her, and Emily blushed and said, "So…do you want to come over after this is done?" Clarke nodded, silently. Emily held her gaze and said, somewhat intensely, "Tell your mom you're going to a sleepover."

And just like that, she turned back to watch the action onstage, completely ruining Clarke's focus for the rest of the assembly.

Afterwards, the four of them headed toward the cafeteria with the rest of the crowd. Raven and Octavia must have overheard what Emily and Clarke were talking about, or maybe they just guessed by the energy between the two of them, because they kept whispering and snickering. Clarke was about to tell them to shut it, when she heard her mom's voice: "Clarke!"

"Hey, Mom," she said, pulling Abby into a quick hug as she came up behind them. "You did great today."

"Thanks," said Abby, clearly pleased at the praise from her daughter.

"I'm staying over at Octavia's tonight," Clarke blurted out suddenly. "That's cool with you, right?"

"Um, that's fine, honey," Abby said. She seemed distracted. "Raven, can I please talk to you for a minute? It's about that issue with my car." Raven shrugged and the two of them headed for Abby's office.

Clarke smiled one of her half-smiles at Emily, and Emily shyly smiled back at her.

Octavia said, "Well, you guys are gross and I don't want to be around you. I'll be outside. Come and find me when you're ready to leave, Raven should probably drive us all so it looks more realistic." She walked off toward the front entrance.

Emily cleared her throat. "Want to go get some food and mingle?" She indicated the cafeteria.

Clarke said, "Nope. I'm suddenly dying to get out of here." She sighed. "But I guess there's nothing we can do without our ride…come on, let's see if there's punch and maybe this time I won't spill it on you." Emily giggled as Clarke took her hand and pulled her toward the cafeteria.

Raven followed Abby down the hall and into the main office, then into Abby's office. She tried to keep as much distance between them as possible while Abby shut the door – her heart was beating so hard she was sure Abby could hear it.

"Was it the serpentine belt?" she started, but Abby cut her off. "It's not about the car," she said. She walked around and sat down behind the desk, as if she too were trying to put some distance between them.

Raven blew out a breath. "Yeah, I know," she said. "I was just giving you an out in case this was too much." She stuck her hands in her pockets and kicked at the ground a little.

Abby looked up, then, and Raven met her eyes. "I am so sorry for the other night," Abby said. Raven started to tell her it was okay, but Abby said, "Please – I have to finish." She drummed her fingers on the desk nervously. "This is so hard for me. Anyway, I had no right to – to kiss you like that, and I hate how weird it made things between us, and I completely understand why you don't want to talk to me anymore."

"Abby–" Raven began, but she was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Principal Griffin?" a voice called. "There's a reporter in the cafeteria with some questions about the safety committee."

Abby and Raven looked at each other, both feeling a mix of pain and relief at the interruption.

"I'll be right there!" Abby called. They heard footsteps walking away.

She stood up and walked around the desk to Raven, putting a hand on her arm. Raven couldn't breathe. "Can we continue this later?" Abby said. "I don't feel like we're done here." Raven nodded. "Go knock 'em dead, Principal Griffin," she said with a weak smile. Abby returned the smile, squeezed her arm one last time, and went out of the office.

Raven watched her go.

While this was going on, Octavia had walked outside into the chilly night air. She saw movement in the shadows and knew immediately who it was.

"Got a light?" she said.

Caleb chuckled. "Famous first words."

Octavia walked over to him, stopping right in front of him, her hands on her hips. "So what's up?"

He considered her. "You seem…angrier than usual." She swatted him on the arm. "Nope, just normal angry then," he said.

"Why haven't you called me?" Octavia said. "Wait – did I actually just say that? That's not what I meant."

"I feel like we're not a part of the same conversation right now," Caleb said. "You want to back up? Tell me what's got you slightly-above-average angry?"

Octavia groaned. "Ugh! I feel stupid now!" She slumped against the wall next to him. "Okay, look. You and I, we're friends or something, right?"

"That's a good way of putting it."

"And we were hanging out at school some, and then we went to The Brew, and then I only saw you a couple times after that but it was pretty chill," Octavia continued.

"So far, your recollection is accurate," Caleb said.

"But then it's been a couple of weeks and you've never called me, and I don't know why, and I feel like I haven't seen you at school or anything, and I'm a little confused because let's face it, I'm awesome."

Now Caleb laughed. "That's true. You are awesome." He shifted so he was facing her, leaning his shoulder against the wall. She still had her back against the wall, looking straight ahead. "Hey," Caleb said. Octavia turned and faced him, mirroring his position. "You're right, I should have told you some stuff about me."

He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She let him. "I take off sometimes with little to no warning. I have this whole…other life in Ravenswood, and sometimes I get called back there."

Caleb paused, then forged ahead. "And my last relationship got messed up in part because of that, and I didn't want to start anything new, and then you showed up here, this little ball of anger, and I guess it just scared me."

"I scare a lot of people," said Octavia. But she was smiling now.

"Not you, per se," Caleb said. "But, like…the situation."

"I'm going to kiss you now," said Octavia, "before you say something dorky like 'per se' again." And she pulled his face down to hers.

Spencer and Bellamy were in the barn. She held his hand as they walked through the door. "This…is not what I had in mind when you said 'barn,'" he said admiringly.

"Would you prefer mucking out stables?" she said, looking back at him over her shoulder as he paused in the entryway.

"No, ma'am," said Bellamy.

Spencer released his hand and went over to the bed, sitting on the edge, maintaining eye contact as she unzipped her boots and threw them against the wall. "Tell me something," she said, her voice dangerously low.

"Like what?" Bellamy asked.

She shrugged, smiling, and crooked a finger at him. He slowly walked over. "I could tell you about the first time I thought 'damn, she's hot' if you want…"

"That would be acceptable," Spencer said.

Bellamy was a few feet from the bed now. "It was after the first assembly, when they announced the three schools. I thought you were so prissy with all that 'This is unacceptable' stuff." He stepped closer. His voice grew quieter. "But then, I saw you talking to…Hanna, I think it was, by the snack table, and you laughed out loud, and when I saw your face light up, I knew that I was pretty much done for."

"And then you stole my carrot stick," said Spencer, smiling as she remembered.

"And then you corrected my grammar, which again – oddly hot," Bellamy said. He was standing right in front of her. She scooted up the bed, leaning back on her elbows, as he lowered himself over her, not touching her at all, supporting his own weight as he crouched on all fours.

"Oddly Hot: The Spencer and Bellamy Story," she grinned. "That's what they'll call our Lifetime movie."

"Yeah," Bellamy said, "that, or maybe–"

But Spencer would never get to hear what would probably have been a very clever Lifetime movie title, because she couldn't take it anymore. She reached up, wrapping one arm around Bellamy's neck and one around his lower back and crushing him to her so that he fell on top of her, their lips crashing together.

She took advantage of his being momentarily off-balance to swiftly roll them, keeping their bodies tightly entwined as she came out on top, straddling Bellamy's hips. Spencer sat up, her eyes dark as she reached down to the hem of his shirt and pushed it up high on his chest, trailing the backs of her fingers up his abs and making him gasp. She grinned wickedly and pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss to his neck as she rocked her hips against his.

Bellamy groaned. She was driving him to his breaking point, and they'd only just started kissing. He flipped them again so that he was on top, and whispered in her ear, "Are you sure no one from your family is going to come home?"

She actually laughed at that. "If you only knew how funny that is…" Then he silenced her with a kiss. And then another, and another, and soon there were no more words coming from the barn.

Hanna and Lincoln were at the gym. "Widen your stance a little," Lincoln said. "And stand sideways. Minimize your surface area, makes it harder to hit you." He came over and gently adjusted the position of her hands, then picked up the pads again. "Okay, go again."

She came at him, just quick jabs for now – they'd move on to crosses and hooks if she ever wanted to come back – and he smiled at her ferocity.

Lincoln was impressed. She was tougher than she looked.

Hanna was impressed. He was in his element here, and the handful of other guys in the gym nodded at him with respect. And he was being patient with her, warmer than he was at school.

"Hey, before I hit you again," she said, "I should apologize for something."

He put the pads down at his sides and just watched her, waiting.

"When we first met," said Hanna, "I don't know if you remember this, but I tripped in the gym and you caught me." Lincoln nodded.

Hanna blew a strand of hair out of her face. She was still bouncing on the balls of her feet, fists up, which made the whole conversation that much more ridiculous. "I thought you were really hot – the muscles, the tattoos – and I just wanted to say, you're a lot more than that, and I'm sorry for objectifying you."

Lincoln actually laughed out loud at that. "It's cool, Marin," he said. He put the pads up. "Now, come at me again."

Clarke and Emily were in Emily's room. Alone. Emily had just turned on the lamp on her bedside table and turned to face Clarke, who was standing right inside her bedroom door.

"You sure your mom's in Texas?" Clarke said.

Emily scanned the room as if she were looking for Pam. "Pretty sure, yeah," she said with a smile.

"And your dad?" Clarke said, taking one step closer.

Emily scrunched up her face in thought. "Yep, him too."

"Any aunts? Uncles? Family friends who might stop by?" Clarke said, continuing to advance until they were standing an inch apart, the backs of Emily's legs bumping against the bed.

"I truly do not expect anyone to come by tonight except you," said Emily.

"Good," Clarke said quietly, bumping their noses together gently. "Because if they did, I might have to kill them."

And then her mouth was on Emily's, and they kissed hungrily as they fell onto the bed.

Octavia and Caleb were in the park. Raven had dropped them off there, not questioning, before peeling out again.

Octavia broke free from their kiss long enough to whisper, "Who's a little ball of anger now?!"

He pretended to think for a minute. "Um…you still are," he said, laughing as she stomped on his foot, pulling her into yet another kiss.

Lexa and Paige were on the soccer field. They lay there, side by side, hands intertwined, looking up at the stars.

"I was proud of you in there today," Paige said, turning her head to look at Lexa.

Lexa looked at her, too, and smiled one of her mysterious little smiles. "Thank you." She brought their joined hands to her lips and brushed a kiss over Paige's knuckles, then looked back up at the stars.

"When I was a kid, I used to wish that I lived on a star," Paige said. She was still watching Lexa. "Maybe it was from reading _The Little Prince_ so much or something." She paused. "Do you ever wish you lived up there?"

Lexa thought for a moment, then said, "No. My place is here, on the ground." She paused. "With you."

Paige smiled.

Raven was standing at the Griffins' front door. Her usual bravado had deserted her on the drive over, her palms were sweating, and she felt like a teenage boy on his first date. No, like a job candidate at an interview that could make or break them.

Actually, she felt like a bartender/wannabe mechanic about to confess everything to the unattainable object of her desire like she was in some damn 90s high school movie.

Raven raised her fist, ready to knock. This time, instead of lowering it like she had every other time, she thought 'Come on, Reyes, you got this' – and she finally knocked, sharply, desperately, three times.

Abby heard the knock, could swear she actually _felt_ it reverberate through her whole body, because she knew there was only one person it could be. She inhaled deeply and quickly took stock. She'd been hoping for this conversation, dreaming of where it might lead for so long, but she didn't think it would happen tonight, so she was a little unprepared.

The living room looked decent, no huge piles of dishes in the kitchen sink. Abby was in her pajamas already, but that couldn't be helped (and somehow, she suspected Raven wouldn't mind). She ran a hand through her hair quickly and crossed to the door, setting down her mug as she went.

Raven heard the approaching footsteps and took a deep breath of her own.

She heard the lock click. Saw the doorknob turn. Froze in place as the door opened and Abby was standing there, looking as shy as Raven had ever seen her.

Their eyes locked, and they each saw a mirror image of their own desire, and there was no need to talk it out right then. Abby grabbed Raven by the hand and _pulled_ , and suddenly Raven was inside the house and Abby was shutting the door and god, their lips met, _finally_ , and each of them privately thought that she might literally die from the overwhelming rightness of it.

Their bodies fit perfectly together, but Raven needed more. She wanted to surround Abby, to be surrounded by Abby, to inhale her, to blur the lines between them so that they were just…merged together, like (Raven's mind groped for an analogy) the penny and dime that she'd seen on an X-Files episode once.

She brought her focus back to the moment, and all of her senses were flooded. Abby was making these little whimpers (just from kissing, thought Raven!) that drove her absolutely wild. Her hair smelled like something Raven couldn't identify but that reminded her of the ocean. Raven opened her eyes and took a quick peek. My god, she was wearing these little Tina Fey reading glasses that Raven hadn't even noticed when they were looking at each other for that half-second in the doorway.

They kissed hungrily, all lips and tongues and gently nipping teeth. Abby's mouth was unbelievably hot and tasted faintly of mint. Without even realizing it, Raven had walked them the handful of steps to the door, and now she backed Abby up against it, melding their bodies together even more tightly and eliciting a throaty moan from Abby as Raven's leg slid between hers, pressing against her most sensitive area, her jeans creating delicious friction against the thin cotton of Abby's pajama pants.

Raven pulled back for a second. Abby's hair was disheveled and her lips were swollen and Raven had never seen anything so amazing in her life. She jerked her head towards the upstairs, one eyebrow raised in a question.

Abby shook her head. "Too far," she rasped.

That made Raven groan and nip at Abby's neck, and then she did what any red-blooded, naturally athletic young person would do: she hoisted Abby up, using the door for leverage. Abby instinctively wrapped her legs around Raven's waist, and Raven carried her over to the couch, where she lay Abby down gently, stretched her body out on top so that they touched at every point possible, and finally got to show her what she meant to her.

Later, they were still sprawled on the couch, catching their breath. Raven lay half over Abby, and Abby's hand trailed patterns over Raven's lower back, including the tattoo that she'd spotted that night at the bar.

Raven mumbled against her neck, "Hey, BTW, what I wanted to say before was that I'm totally into this, and I can't get you out of my mind, and I didn't kiss you the other night because you were drunk and I didn't want our first kiss to be like that, much less our first time."

Abby chuckled, a low rumble that Raven felt vibrate in her own chest. "Is that all?"

"Also, I like your glasses," Raven said. Abby could feel her smile against her neck. "P.S. I think they're over there somewhere." She gestured vaguely with one hand, then leaned up so she could look Abby in the face.

"Is there anything you want to say?" Raven asked, biting her lip a little nervously.

Abby planted a quick kiss on that lip. It turned into a slightly longer kiss when Raven captured her lips and wouldn't let go. Finally, Abby pulled back, sighing. "I am really, really glad Clarke is staying over with Octavia tonight."

Raven couldn't hold back a snort. "What?" said Abby. Raven looked at her. "Do you really think she's at Octavia's house? Come on, Abby…" As soon as it was out of her mouth, she mentally kicked herself for ratting Clarke out, and she realized this probably wouldn't be the last weird moment they had.

"What do you mean? Wha–"Abby processed out loud, and then realization dawned. "OH! Is she at Emily's? Oh my god!" She clapped a hand over her mouth. There was a beat. Then Abby returned her hand to making circles on Raven's back, shrugged, and said with a grin, "Oh well, at least she won't get pregnant."

Raven thought of a lot of comments then. "Like mother, like daughter" didn't seem appropriate. "Mom of the year" would probably offend Abby (even though it would be pretty funny).

So she just snuggled in and said, quietly, "You're amazing."

And Abby kissed her hair and held her tight, trying not to think past tonight.

Meanwhile, at a diner in a nearby town, two people sat in a booth.

The first person said, "You probably heard – Murphy got expelled. We both knew his methods were crude. So, change of plans. I'm going to get closer."

The other person nodded, threw some bills down on the table and walked out into the night.

The lights of the diner briefly shone on a dark gray hoodie.

Next chapter: I honestly don't know yet. This one ran away from me.


	10. Chapter 10: Raven

Raven Reyes woke up slowly but didn't open her eyes right away. She didn't have to.

Unlike other mornings when she'd woken up in someone else's bed, this time she knew exactly where she was, and it was exactly where she'd wanted to be for so, so long.

Raven took a deep breath, trying to inhale the moment, which was pretty stupid but there you go. Instead, she ended up inhaling a noseful of Abby Griffin's hair. She burst out coughing, and Abby looked up blearily from where she was sprawled on her stomach, one arm flung over Raven's torso and her hair obviously not contained to her own pillow.

"Were you smelling my hair?" she mumbled, and Raven knew in that moment she'd never get tired of hearing Abby's sleepy voice.

"Not on purpose," Raven said, choosing not to elaborate.

Abby flipped her hair out of the way and snuggled closer to her, which took Raven a minute to process – she wasn't sure how Abby would feel about last night, and the closeness was a nice surprise. Abby's head was on her shoulder, and her arm curled around Raven's waist so her hand could rest comfortably on Raven's opposite hip. "I'm glad we finally made it to the bed," she said, still in that extra-raspy mumble.

Raven could feel her body temperature rising again just from the light contact and that voice. She kissed Abby on the head. "Me too," she said.

Abby's hand was rubbing light circles on Raven's hip through the oversized t-shirt she was wearing. "You look good in this," she said absently. Then, with mischief creeping into her voice: "I'm glad we found something that was up to your standards."

"Pajamas are what separates us from the animals!" Raven said. She had insisted on putting something on before they drifted to sleep last night – it was just a thing she had, she liked to sleep in something comfy. She thought the t-shirt had probably been Jake's, and realized that it didn't bother her as much as she would have expected.

They lay there quietly for a minute. Then Raven smiled, and Abby must have felt it against her head because she said "What is it?"

Raven said, "I feel like the school nerd waking up the day after prom with the prom queen."

Abby snorted. "More like the prom queen's mom."

That made Raven laugh out loud. Then she got quiet again. "Abby…hey."

Abby rolled over, leaning up on her elbows so she could look Raven in the eyes.

Raven swallowed and continued: "Just so you know, the age thing bothers me exactly none. It sounds crazy, I know, but it just doesn't." Abby nodded a little, still looking at her, intensely focused now. Raven summoned all her courage and said, "And…I was hoping…I mean, I don't want this to be a one-time thing. You know?"

Abby blushed at that, probably remembering last night, which made Raven grin a little evilly. "I guess it already wasn't a one-time thing, huh?"

"Hey!" said Abby. "In my defense, it had been a _really_ long time for me, and I'd been crushing on this hot bartender forever, and–"

Raven cut her off with a quick kiss. "So…not just a one-to-three time thing then?" Abby shook her head, a little shyly. "Raven…"

"I know," said Raven. "There are a million reasons for us to tread lightly here. We'll just ease into it, keep it between us for now, yeah?" They exchanged another smile.

Raven fumbled for her phone and checked the time. She groaned and started to sit up. "I guess I should get going."

Abby turned the phone so she could see the time.

And the next thing Raven knew, she was being pushed back down on the bed and Abby was pressing hot, wet kisses to her neck as she breathed, "Clarke's never up this early on the weekends."

Raven groaned again and let herself be pulled under.

Later, they wandered through the house putting together Raven's outfit from last night, giggling at how far-flung everything was. When Raven was decent, they paused by the front door.

"I'm going to get out of here now, so you can yell at your kid for sleeping over at her girlfriend's." Raven smirked as Abby rolled her eyes at the obvious jab. "And–" she leaned closer, a breath away, "now that I'm not avoiding you anymore, I can start taking Clarke & Octavia to school again if you want."

"Yes, definitely," said Abby, her breath hitching at their proximity. "Gives me two more chances a day to see you."

Raven smiled, then brushed their lips together one last time. She pulled herself away reluctantly. "Later, Griffin," she said, and she headed to her car, watching Abby in the doorway the whole time she was backing down the driveway.

Raven headed home, showered and changed, then flopped on her bed. She couldn't stop replaying last night (and this morning) in her head like some lovesick teenager.

Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Clarke:

 ** _Amaaaaaaaazing night last night! How are you?_**

Well, this is definitely going to be awkward, Raven thought. She typed back:

 ** _Not bad._**

Her phone buzzed again.

 ** _Super communicative as always ;)_**

 ** _Want to get coffee? I'm exhausted._**

Raven hesitated for a second, then wrote:

 ** _Sure._**

They decided on a time, and then Raven flopped back on her bed, wondering how the hell she was going to pull this off.

It was a little surreal, pulling into the same driveway she'd backed down only a couple of hours before. But then Clarke came bouncing out the door with a wave, and Abby was nowhere in sight, and maybe this would be okay.

"Hey!" said Clarke as she flopped into the passenger seat, grinning.

"I thought you were exhausted," Raven said.

"I am, but I'm so excited to see you and tell you all about my night!" Her enthusiasm was pretty adorable, Raven had to admit. She smiled back. "Okay, okay, hold your horses until we get to the coffee shop. You're making _me_ exhausted and I'm gonna need a caffeine boost to keep up with you."

Clarke winked at her and settled down a little bit, putting her feet on the dashboard. Then she noticed a business card in the cupholder. "What's this?" she said, picking it up. "Sinclair's Garage," she read aloud. "Please tell me your car doesn't need fixing. My mom _just_ told me you're going to start driving me and Octavia to school again."

"Yes, if my car needed fixing I can see how that would be _such_ a burden to you," Raven said. "But no – actually, your mom gave me that card when I told her she needed to replace her serpentine belt a couple weeks back." She shrugged. "Said I should talk to him about getting a job or something."

Clarke turned to Raven excitedly, putting her feet on the floor. "Rae, that's a great idea!" She grabbed Raven's arm. "We should go right after coffee!"

"Why does every one of your sentences end in an exclamation point today?" grumbled Raven. She threw a sidelong glance at Clarke, who was still looking at her expectantly.

Raven thought about it. She would never admit this, definitely not to Abby and barely even to herself, but Abby's 'hot bartender' comment had struck a little bit of a nerve with her. She certainly didn't mind being hot, and there was nothing wrong with being a bartender, but some part of her wanted Abby to see her as…more. "Ugh, fine," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "I guess we can do that."

Clarke grinned and let go of Raven's arm.

They drove to a local coffee shop. "God, do you remember how much we used to hang out here?" Clarke said as they walked in. "I haven't been here in forever."

Raven nodded and pretended to study the drink menu. There were lots of things about that time she'd rather forget – but then she guessed Clarke had her share of dark memories, too.

They ordered their drinks in to-go cups – a red-eye for Raven, a chai latte for Clarke ("I thought you said you wanted caffeine!" Raven said, and Clarke shrugged) and sat at an out-of-the-way table.

"Okay," Raven said. "You look like a baby bunny about to explode rainbows. SPEAK."

"Ohmygod it was amazing!" Clarke blurted out. Then, more quietly, "She's amazing." Raven watched as a blush spread up Clarke's neck to her cheeks. "Wow," she said. "I didn't realize it was that serious with you guys."

"Well," Clarke said, "it wasn't _that_ serious until last night." She smiled, looking up at Raven shyly. "I thought it would be weird, you know? Like, I had no idea what I was doing…or how it would be, with a girl."

Raven froze. This conversation was hitting too close to home, which she probably should have realized sooner. She nodded mutely as Clarke continued.

Clarke's voice was very quiet now – Raven had to strain to hear her over the quiet conversations in the coffee shop. "But Emily was so wonderful. And _she_ obviously knew what she was doing." Clarke grinned, getting over her slight awkwardness. "And her hair is so smooth, and she smells so good, and her body is so soft against mine…"

She trailed off, seeing the look on Raven's face, not realizing that her words were making Raven relive last night with Abby. "Oh no, am I oversharing?" she said. Clarke looked a little sad then, trying to understand. "I mean, we always talk like this…wait, is this because she's a girl? Does that make you uncomfortable?"

Raven put a hand over Clarke's and shook her head, realizing that they were headed for a big misunderstanding. "No, not at all," she said. "I'm sorry – I'm totally happy for you, really. And there's no such thing as oversharing between Eskimo sisters." She winked, and Clarke chuckled at the inappropriate comment.

Raven squeezed her hand and released it, taking a big gulp of her drink.

"What about you? Get any last night?" Clarke said, and Raven choked and spluttered and did everything in her power to avoid an actual spit take. "I was totally kidding," Clarke said gleefully, "but you DID! Who was it? Was it someone from the bar?" She gasped. "Was it someone I know?"

Raven recovered from her coughing fit and put her face in her hands with a groan. "It's nothing, Clarke. Just let it go."

She peeked through her fingers. Clarke was looking at her thoughtfully, probably trying to figure out how far to push her. Then Clarke grinned. "Okay, my emotionally stunted friend," she said. "I'll back off…for now."

Then she stood up, holding the rest of her drink. "Let's go."

"Go where?" said Raven, still feeling off-kilter.

"To Sinclair's Garage," Clarke said. "I know what you're thinking." She affected a grumbly tone, doing a not-horrible impression of Raven. "Just what I need – another job."

Raven rolled her eyes at the impression, but stood reluctantly. Clarke took her by the elbow. "Suck it up, buttercup," she said. "Let's go get you hired!" On the way out, Raven muttered something about 'pushy Griffin women,' and she saw Clarke smile.

In the car, Raven was still a little quieter than usual, thinking about how many weird moments there had been in just one short conversation. She wasn't good at this stuff. Well, she was pretty good at being emotionally distant, but not at outright hiding things from her friends.

"My mom likes you a lot," said Clarke suddenly, causing Raven to jolt upright at the wheel.

"Wh- why do you say that?" Raven said, mentally smacking herself on the forehead for acting so squirrely.

Clarke held up the business card. "I don't think she's trying to be pushy with this mechanic thing. I just…" She looked out the window. "She went through a really rough time when my dad died, and then when you were going through everything with your dad…and your mom…I know she was really worried about you, but she was always so impressed with how you handled everything."

Raven stared straight ahead, eyes locked on the road.

Clarke went on, "It's really cheesy, but I think she just saw how much you were capable of, and how you got dealt this really shitty hand, and she didn't really talk about it to me, but I think she always wanted you to reach your potential." She looked at Raven. "You know?"

Raven just nodded.

They got to the garage, and Clarke looked around while Raven asked at the front desk for Sinclair. The receptionist dialed the phone, and a minute later a man with salt-and-pepper hair came out.

His kindly face lit up when Raven mentioned that she was a friend of Abby's (she stumbled on the word 'friend'), and he had a few minutes to talk so they went back and did the interview right then.

She didn't get a job offer on the spot like at the Hollis Bar & Grill, but they had a nice conversation and she promised to send him her high school transcript and a resume over email. He complimented the upkeep on her car, they shook hands and Raven and Clarke left.

When they pulled into the driveway, Abby's car was there. "You want to come hang out?" said Clarke. "No, I should be getting ready for my shift at the bar," Raven said. Clarke gave her a quick hug and said, "It was really good to see you. Feels like we haven't hung out one on one in forever."

"Thanks for making me go to Sinclair's," Raven said. Clarke nodded and climbed out.

Right before Clarke slammed the door, she yelled, "And someday I'm going to make you talk about this new guy you're seeing!"

This time, Raven actually chuckled as she drove away.

As she was unlocking her apartment, her phone buzzed. Raven assumed it was Clarke (Abby didn't really seem like the texting type), but it said Unknown Caller and the message read:

 ** _You've got it backwards: Most girls are naughty BEFORE they go to the principal's office._**

 ** _I'll be in touch soon._**

 ** _-A_**

Raven looked around in a panic. Who was A? She ran down the list of obvious suspects: there's no way Abby would send a message like that. Maybe Aria? How could anyone else possibly know about her and Abby?

She didn't see anyone, but it left her spooked. She felt like the other shoe was about to drop, and she was sure she wouldn't like it when it did.

Next chapter: One of the Liars! Probably Emily or Spencer.


	11. Chapter 11: Spencer

Spencer Hastings was in a reflective mood.

She'd packed a lunch today so that she could stay in and work on a chemistry experiment for extra credit. At the moment, she was timing a reaction and looking down at the quad, where a few hardy souls braved the October winds, soaking up their last few days outside before winter hit full force.

Spencer reflected on the school year thus far. The blend of the three schools seemed to be going smoothly, overall. The attacks had stopped since John Murphy got expelled, and looking down at the huddled figures below, she saw more and more blending within friend groups. And there had been no appreciable effect on Spencer's class standing. The largest annoyance for her was that a junior from Arkadia, Octavia Blake, had been named captain of the field hockey team. But her other extra-curriculars should more than compensate for that, as she'd reassured her mother last week.

Spencer paused for a moment, checked the time, and then continued her introspection. Her thoughts wandered to her family. Melissa was in England, Peter had moved to the city, and Vanessa had been unapologetically absent from the house. Spencer had learned over the years to value solitude, but she thrived with a group to lead. She was more grateful than ever for her friends this year.

And there they were, among the handful of students on the quad. Hanna's blonde hair shone in the cold sun, and she could see Aria's brown locks peeking out from under a slouchy hat. From where Spencer stood, it looked like the two of them were huddled together for warmth. Lincoln sat next to Hanna, his arm draped casually around her back, and Paige and Lexa completed their little circle.

As she watched, Hanna told an extremely animated story, complete with big hand gestures. Hanna and Aria threw their heads back in laughter, and Paige laughed too, and Spencer thought Lexa and Lincoln's shoulders might be shaking a little too.

She checked the time and turned off the Bunsen burner, moving the reagents to a rack nearby. This time, when Spencer looked out the window, she had an angle into a small corner of the courtyard she hadn't noticed before, where two people were taking advantage of the relative privacy to, um, keep each other warm. Spencer actually chuckled out loud and shook her head as she saw long blonde hair and long black hair being whipped around by the wind. Emily and Clarke were currently running unopposed for "most adorable couple," at least in Spencer's unofficial poll.

Spencer returned to her original location by the main window. She saw a couple of people walking around the grounds, likely patrolling for the Safety Committee. Spencer wondered what was truly behind the decline in violence. Was it the efforts of the Safety Committee? Murphy's expulsion? Surely he couldn't have been solely responsible, though. Something bothered her about it, but she couldn't put her finger on it yet, and she mentally assigned it to the background of her mind.

She was hopeful about the Safety Committee, whether or not the patrols and mission statement were actually having an effect. And she was proud of a certain student representative…Spencer scanned the ground below, looking for Bellamy, but she didn't see him anywhere.

Then she heard the door open and a voice said, "Hey, Princess." Spencer smiled but didn't turn from her spot by the window. She felt strong arms encircle her from behind, lips pressing a kiss to her neck. "I thought I might find you here," Bellamy said.

She spun in his arms and kissed him. "Hi."

"If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were up here being a creeper and watching Emily and Clarke make out," he said. Spencer actually blushed a little at that and smacked him on the arm. "Hey!" he said, rubbing his arm. "I said _if_ I didn't know you better. But you're probably doing some science thing, right?" She nodded. Bellamy grinned at her and kissed her again, then nuzzled her nose. "My little school nerd."

"One man's school nerd is another's Ivy League grad," Spencer said. "I feel like that's the same thing," said Bellamy, and she giggled into his chest.

Then she pulled back. "Hey, I was just thinking about you," she said.

"Oh yeah?" grinned Bellamy. "Thinking about some quality barn time?"

"No," said Spencer, smiling as he sighed in disappointment. "I was thinking about the Safety Committee and how proud I am of you."

Bellamy stepped back then, ruffling a hand through his hair and looking uncomfortable. "Yeah…about that. I told you it's not really my scene, and lately I just haven't been feeling it."

"Are you thinking about quitting?" Spencer asked, trying to sound neutral. Hastings were never allowed to quit anything, but she'd been trying to soften her approach with other people lately.

"Yeah, I guess," Bellamy said. "But…I like how proud it makes you, so…" He trailed off, looking down.

Spencer grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her eyes. "Hey." He looked at her, twisting his mouth a little. "I think you're awesome. You don't have to be on some committee to impress me, okay?" Bellamy nodded. Spencer continued, "Listen, I learned this the hard way. I dated this guy Alex, and we danced together once and it was pretty hot and then we broke up because I signed him up for tennis camp."

He looked amused now. "It sounds weird when you say it all at once like that," Spencer said hastily. "But anyway, the point is – don't change who you are to impress me. I like this Bellamy."

And then his lips were on hers again, and they kissed as he pressed her up against the windowsill, until they were both gasping for breath.

"Do you want to go to The Brew later?" Spencer whispered. "A few of us are going to hang out there after practice."

Bellamy groaned. "I should probably go to one last Safety Committee meeting. Tell them I'm quitting so they can find a replacement. Otherwise there won't be anyone from Arkadia there."

"See?" said Spencer. "How could I not be proud of you?" They stood there for a minute, just holding each other, until the bell rang and they both had to go to class.

Later, at The Brew, a little group formed. Emily was working, so she couldn't really hang out. Aria had gone to pick Ezra up at Hollis, and Hanna and Lincoln were sparring at the gym as they often did after school. Spencer was sitting by Clarke, thinking how good it was to hang out with her outside of school and field hockey practice. Raven was also there, Clarke's older friend who hung out with them occasionally, and Octavia and Caleb rounded out the group.

Spencer felt uneasy around Octavia for several reasons: she was even more intense than Spencer in her own way, she was dating Hanna's ex, and there was the whole field hockey captain thing. But Octavia was one of Clarke's best friends, and Clarke's friendship had become important to Spencer over the last couple of months, so she was determined to make an effort.

"So what's up with you and my brother?" Octavia asked, her arms folded across her chest.

Spencer grit her teeth. Maintain calm, she told herself, but Octavia's attitude just rubbed her the wrong way.

"I like him," she said simply.

"Well, he likes you too," said Octavia, "so don't screw it up."

"Okay," said Spencer.

Caleb laughed. "Good talk, you guys!" Octavia punched him lightly in the shoulder, and he grabbed her fist and pulled her into a quick kiss. "No hitting," he said, smiling against her mouth. She growled a little, but Spencer saw a smile in her eyes.

"Gross," said Raven. Octavia turned on her. "Oh, so if you don't have anyone to make out with, none of us can?" Raven arched an eyebrow at Octavia and opened her mouth to retort, but Clarke jumped in first: "Raven has a secret boyfriend!"

Now it was Raven's turn to whirl and face Clarke. "Dude!"

Spencer enjoyed watching the dynamic among the three of them. They were like a feistier version of her group of friends.

Octavia slammed both her hands on the table, making all of their coffee drinks jump. "What? Who is it? Tell us right now, Reyes – you know I have ways of making you talk."

Raven just groaned and rolled her eyes. "God, Clarke, way to go! Now you sicced the honey badger on me."

Just then, Emily came over. "No line at the register!" she said. "I'm taking a break." She sat on the arm of Clarke's chair, handing her a to-go cup and planting a kiss on her lips.

"Geez," said Raven. "Must be something in the coffee." She turned to Spencer. "You wanna make out, or what? These little punks are making me feel left out."

"Sure," Spencer laughed.

"Don't even think about it," Octavia said threateningly, pointing a finger at Spencer, who held up her hands in an 'I come in peace' gesture. Octavia smiled, and then said, "Hey, Bellamy said he's thinking about quitting the safety committee."

"Yeah, he told me that today," Spencer said. "He went to the meeting so they can start looking for another rep from Arkadia."

"Clarke!" Octavia said. Clarke looked up from where she'd been whispering with Emily, startled at hearing her name. "What'd I do?" she said.

"Safety Committee needs an Arkadia rep," said Octavia. "You should do it."

Clarke thought about it for a minute. "I don't know…" she said. "I'd be happy to, but is it weird if the principal's kid is on her committee?"

She looked around the table. Everyone shrugged. Emily squeezed her hand and said, "I think you'd be great at that!" Then she hopped up and went to the register, greeting a customer as he came in.

Clarke said, "I guess I'll talk to my mom about it." She turned to Raven. "Do you mind if we head home? She's probably home by now."

"No problem," Raven said. "I'm not working tonight, so I'm all yours."

"Great!" said Clarke. "You can come over for dinner." Spencer noticed that Raven paled a little at that, but she nodded as they stood up. "Come on, O," Raven said. Caleb pouted a little, and Octavia patted him on the cheek. "See you later," she said, standing and walking out just behind Raven.

Clarke leaned over the counter and whispered something to Emily, who blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. Clarke kissed her one last time and followed her friends out.

"I haven't seen her do that hair-tuck thing in a long time," Caleb said to Spencer.

She looked at him, surprised. He noticed and laughed, a little sadly. "I used to be friends with you guys, remember?" he said. "And now that Hanna and I are both moving on…maybe we can be again."

Spencer smiled and said, "I'd like that."

Her phone buzzed – Bellamy. She said goodbye to Caleb and Emily, then walked outside to read it.

 ** _Told Principal G I'm quitting the committee._**

 ** _ugh_**

She texted him back:

 ** _Still my #1 guy ;)_**

After a few seconds, she saw:

 ** _Good, I was hoping for top 10 at least_**

 ** _Can I come over?_**

Spencer blushed a little and wrote:

 ** _Race you there._**

Next chapter: Clarke!


	12. Chapter 12: Clarke

Later that night, Clarke would think back on dinner and wonder what was in Raven's water glass that made her keep choking on it.

(Much later, she'd think back on that dinner and literally smack herself in the forehead when she put it all together.)

When they pulled up, Clarke got out first. "Raven, come on!" she called. Raven got out of the car and blew out a breath as she pushed the car door shut. "I told you, my mom won't mind having one more person for dinner," said Clarke. "And she hasn't seen you much this year, so I'm sure she'll be happy to catch up a little."

"Cool," Raven mumbled, fidgeting with her keys as they walked up to the front door.

"What, no shots about my mom?" Clarke elbowed her in the ribs.

"Guess I'm growing up," Raven said.

"Mom!" called Clarke. "Are you home?" Abby came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "Hi, Clar–" she started – and then she caught sight of Raven standing behind Clarke, and her hand automatically went to smooth her hair, her clothes. "Raven, hi," she said. "How – how are you?"

"Clarke invited me," Raven said quickly. "If it's too much trouble, I can–"

"No, please stay," Abby said. "You know you're always welcome here." Clarke saw Raven smile at that. "See?" she said. "I told you she'd be cool about it."

"I was just making linguine carbonara," Abby said. "Plenty to go around. Do you two want to set the table and fix drinks while I dish it up?"

The three of them got everything set on a small round table in the kitchen. As they settled in to eat, Clarke said, "When was the last time the three of us sat down for a meal together?"

" _First_ time was after Jake, after my dad, before Finn," said Raven absently. Then she looked up at what Clarke imagined were twin expressions of shock on the Griffin women's faces. Clarke could see the moment when Raven realized she'd spoken out loud. Her cheeks flushed, and she stammered, "I mean – I remember the first time the three of us ate together, right here. And – I guess I just measure our lives by these big time stamps of tragedy, you know? But I didn't mean to…"

She trailed off, looking stricken. Clarke didn't know how to save the moment, so she was relieved when Abby gently placed a hand over Raven's and said, "Raven. It's okay."

Raven looked back at her for a long moment, then nodded. "I don't remember the last time, though," she said quietly. Abby released her hand, and Raven took a sip of her water.

"Speaking of Dad, why's his t-shirt on the couch?" Clarke said.

Raven choked on her water, and Clarke and Abby both reached to pat her on the back at the same time. "I'm fine," she gasped. "Went down the wrong pipe."

"I slept in it the other night," Abby said casually. "It's comfortable. Then I washed it with the rest of my laundry, which _maybe_ I would have put away if I'd known we had company coming!" She said this last part with a pointed look at Clarke, who grinned sheepishly.

They all took a bite in silence. "This is good," said Raven, flashing a quick smile at Abby before looking back down at her plate.

"Yeah, thanks, Mom," Clarke said.

"I'm glad you both like it," said Abby. Then she looked at Raven. "This might be a little too serious for dinnertime conversation, but do you really measure our lives by moments of tragedy?" Raven looked back at her, and Abby gave a little shrug. "I'm curious. You got me thinking now."

Clarke said, "You know she'll be relentless. Just humor her so we can move on." Abby lightly kicked her under the table.

"Well," Raven began, "It's not like I dwell on the sad stuff all the time or anything. It's just that, when all of us get together…I don't know, I'm not explaining this well. Just seems like we've been through a lot, you know? More than our fair share. But then I think about how all those things that happened led us here, and…I don't know." She took another bite, obviously uncomfortable.

Clarke saw Abby's hand twitch as though she were about to comfort Raven again. But this time, Abby just looked at Raven with affection and said, "I think I understand."

Then she looked at both of them and said, more brightly, "What do you say we make some new memories? Raven's right – there's been more than enough tragedy in our lives. Five years from now, I want us to have some new time stamps!"

Clarke smiled and said, "Five years from now, we'll be like 'Remember that time blah blah blah that awesome thing happened?'"

"I'm in," said Raven, holding up her glass. They all clinked glasses and took a drink.

Raven said, "Speaking of happy things, how's Emily?"

Clarke's eyes shot up to meet Raven's. She couldn't tell if Raven was messing with her, trying to get her to reveal something embarrassing in front of her mom, or if she was just trying to switch the subject to something safer.

"She's…good," said Clarke, a little guardedly.

"When are you going to invite her over?" Abby said.

Now Clarke could see Raven's eyes sparkle as she took another sip of water, and she narrowed her own eyes in response. "Oh, sure," she said, "I'll just say, 'Hey Emily, you want to come over for a double date with Raven and my mom?'"

This time, Raven actually did an honest-to-goodness spit take, mostly in her own lap. "Clarke!" said Abby, as she hurried to the kitchen to get more napkins.

"Dude, what the hell?" hissed Clarke when Abby was in the kitchen.

"What?" said Raven. "I was just trying to change the subject!"

"Bullshit," said Clarke, laughing a little now. "You were totally messing with me so I'd say something about Emily in front of my mom!"

"Like what?" Raven grinned. "Like 'Oh, Emily is so soft and she smells so good…'"

"Shut up!" said Clarke. "When my mom gets back, we're changing the subject."

"Changing the subject to what?" Abby said, reappearing with a handful of napkins.

"Raven has a secret boyfriend!" Clarke blurted out.

Abby froze, half bent over Raven, napkins in hand. Ah, thought Clarke, looks like I'm not the only one she's protective of.

"Here, I can take those," Raven said hastily, reaching for the napkins and cleaning up the aftermath of her epic spit take. "And what Clarke _meant_ to say," she continued as Abby sat back down, "was that the other night, I said something that made her assume that there's someone new in my life."

"Assume?" said Clarke. "Ha! You were _glowing_."

"Whatever," mumbled Raven. She was blushing now. Abby, meanwhile, had apparently gotten over her shock and was smiling to herself.

"Oh!" said Clarke. "Speaking of things that will probably embarrass Raven…" (here, she ignored her friend's warning look completely) "Guess who interviewed at Sinclair's Garage last weekend!"

Abby said, "Raven, did you really? That's wonderful!" She took Raven's hand again, then quickly released it and busied herself with picking up the wet napkins. Raven jumped up to help her, and they got in each other's way for a minute until Raven sat down again, lamely.

Abby threw the napkins away in the kitchen and then came back to the table. "So…?" she said, excitedly.

Raven said, "Yeah, Clarke talked me into it. Don't know where she gets her persuasiveness from." She grinned. "Actually, I didn't have a chance to tell Clarke this yet, but Sinclair called – I got the job!"

And for a minute, it was like old times – old, old times. And as Clarke jumped out of her chair to hug her friend, as Abby squeezed Raven's hand and beamed at her, Clarke thought that maybe this could be one of those moments they'd organize their memories around one day.

Then Raven's phone buzzed, and the moment passed.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she pulled her phone out to check it.

Clarke looked at Abby. It occurred to her that it had been a long time since she'd seen her mom smile like that. Then Abby's brows knitted together in concern, and Clarke realized she was looking at Raven.

"Is everything okay?" Abby said. Clarke looked at Raven now too. She was putting her phone away, visibly paler than she'd been a moment ago.

"Um, I'm fine," Raven said. "That was just…work. It's all good." She turned to Clarke, sighed, and said, "Weren't you going to ask your mom about that committee thing?"

"Oh yeah," said Clarke. "Mom – I heard that Bellamy quit the Safety Committee and that you guys are looking for another rep from Arkadia." She paused. "Would it be super weird if I volunteered?"

Abby thought about it for a moment, and then Raven jumped in. "What if you asked the other committee members to vote on it, and you abstained?"

Clarke looked at her in surprise. "Shut up, I know words like 'abstain,' I watch Law & Order," Raven grumbled.

"No, I just didn't know you were that interested," said Clarke.

"Neither did I," said Abby, smiling again. "And I think that sounds like a very reasonable plan. Clarke, I'll bring it up to the group at the next meeting and let you know. Okay?"

"Cool," said Clarke. "Now – unless Raven is planning on spitting in it, I'm about to destroy this linguine."

And it was the best dinner any of them had had in a long, long time.

Next chapter: Paige! Because it needs to be someone from PLL and I feel like she's up.


	13. Chapter 13: Paige

Paige McCullers was in her element.

Literally. She'd always felt more at home in the water than on land. And as she sliced through the water, everything else fell away – school stress, her strained relationship with her father, even the roar of the crowd.

She executed a perfect flip turn. Only two more lengths to go. Paige could feel her muscles straining – this was the last event of the meet, and she was already exhausted. But she always managed to tap into some inner reserve, some magical burst of energy that her body held in check just for moments like these.

And as her fingertips touched the last wall, as she lifted her head above the water and smoothed her hair back, before she even heard the cheers from the home crowd, she knew – it was enough.

Then her teammates were helping her out of the pool: Emily, Monroe, Fox, the other members of the 4x100 meter relay. Coach Indra was there too, and she clapped Paige on the back proudly. And her teammates were hugging her, and cheering, and they low-fived the rival team, and through it all Paige's eyes were scanning the crowd, seeking out a certain green gaze.

She did see her father, and Nick nodded at her in acknowledgement before heading out. Good, thought Paige. That means I did well enough that he doesn't need to give me real-time feedback.

Then finally, her eyes met Lexa's. And Lexa smiled her secret smile, and Paige's brain started working again as she came back to the moment. Most of the spectators were filing out, and the swimmers were heading for the locker room, except for the small group around her.

"Nice one, co-captain!" Emily was saying with a smile. "I think we may have just broken our own record!"

Paige grinned back at her. "Couldn't have done it without you guys."

"Well, yeah, it's a relay," said Emily, elbowing her in the ribs. Then a pair of arms snuck around Emily's waist and she spun around into Clarke Griffin's arms. "You were great out there, babe," said Clarke, pulling Emily into a tight hug and planting a quick kiss on her mouth. "Careful, I'll get you all wet!" Emily said, and Clarke leaned in to whisper something in her ear that made Emily blush.

Paige could guess what it was, and Clarke's smirk confirmed it. "Hey, Paige!" Clarke said then, catching sight of her over Emily's shoulder. "You were awesome!"

"Yeah," said Clarke's friend Octavia, who was just joining them. "She's like the me of swimming!" She fist-bumped Paige.

"Or are you the _me_ of field hockey?" Paige retorted. Octavia shrugged, then turned to Emily and Clarke. "And will you two quit it with the PDA? You're on a swim deck. It's literally the least sexy place you could be. Try to keep it in your pants."

"She's not wearing any pants," said Clarke, pointing at Emily. Emily blushed again, then said, "I'm going to hit the showers. Are you guys all coming by The Brew later?"

"I'm hanging out with Caleb," said Octavia (in a way that said 'I dare you to give me crap about this.' No one did).

"Safety Committee," said Paige. She started looking around for Lexa again but didn't see her anywhere. Clarke said, "I'll tag along with you – you guys are voting today on whether it's weird to let the principal's daughter on the committee, right?"

"Oh yeah," Paige said. "I'll shower quick and meet you there."

Emily sighed. "Guess I'll just be making coffee for strangers tonight then…" Clarke pulled her in for another kiss and said, "Well, you're supporting the local economy and I'm trying to keep our school safe. So we'll just take one for the team tonight and maybe my mom and I can swing by after the meeting?" Emily smiled and said, "When you put it that way, maybe I'll survive one boring night." Clarke squeezed her hand and headed out to wait for Paige. Octavia nodded at them and followed her.

Paige and Emily headed into the locker room. "Where's Lexa?" Emily asked casually. "I thought I saw her earlier."

"She was here," Paige said. "But I think she snuck out when it ended."

"How…public are you guys?" Emily asked. "I was going to say 'how serious' but that seemed a little too nosy."

Paige thought about it. "You know…I'm not really sure," she said. "We haven't, like, really defined it, you know?" Emily nodded, and Paige thought about what a good listener she'd always been. "I'm sure you'll figure it out in its own time," she said encouragingly.

"Thanks," said Paige. Emily smiled at her, and they got ready amid the clamor of their teammates, some of whom were still hanging around the locker room.

As she showered and changed, Paige kept thinking back to that small conversation. Something was bothering her about it, and she couldn't quite figure out what it was, and she knew she'd obsess over it until she figured it out so she just went with it.

Okay, McCullers, she thought. You know better than to compare your relationship to any others, past or present.

But her thoughts kept going back to how Clarke had greeted Emily so enthusiastically on the pool deck, and how Lexa had slipped out unnoticed without saying anything to her. And, okay, Paige wasn't a huge PDA person, but she and Emily had sometimes been affectionate in public. Emily was more likely to initiate it, but Paige had sometimes kissed her, or slipped a hand into hers as they walked…

Focus, McCullers! she told herself. Why are you thinking about Emily?

Paige felt genuine fondness for Emily. She was still the sweetest girl Paige had ever met, and she'd played such a huge role in Paige's own evolution. Just like Maya had helped Emily to see and accept the truth about herself, Emily had turned around and done the same for Paige.

And maybe, she thought, that's what she should be doing now for Lexa.

Paige walked out into the hall then, and there she was.

"There you are!" blurted Paige.

"Yes, here I am," Lexa said calmly. "I thought we could walk to the meeting together."

They fell into step together. Lexa said, "You swim…fast." Paige laughed out loud. "Wait – was that your first swim meet?" she said.

"Did my lack of vocabulary make it obvious?" said Lexa, with one of her tiny smiles. "There wasn't a pool near me growing up, and the lake wasn't always safe, so I never really got into it." She paused. "That's partly why I enjoy those early mornings, when I'm walking around the campus and you're swimming and there's no one else in the pool. It's…a new experience for me."

They were silent for a while, something Paige always found easy to do around Lexa. She was actually a little surprised that Lexa had revealed even that much about her past – she usually steered the conversation away from herself.

When they got to the meeting room, Clarke was waiting outside. Her eyes flicked to Lexa for an instant, and then she smiled brightly at both of them and said "Hey! Ready to vote on my future?"

The other six members of the committee were already sitting down around the table. They all said hi, and several of them congratulated Paige on the swim meet. Then Principal Griffin spoke. "Lexa, would you like to call the meeting to order?"

Lexa nodded and began the meeting. They read through the agenda and discussed follow-up items from the last meeting, and then it was time for the vote.

"The motion on the table is for the committee to vote on whether Clarke Griffin should fill the empty seat as student representative formerly of Arkadia Academy," Lexa said. "Principal Griffin will be abstaining from the vote because…well, because she's her mother." There was light laughter.

When it was Paige's turn, she didn't hesitate to raise her voice and say "Aye." She could see that Clarke was already a natural leader among their classmates, and Paige appreciated how levelheaded she was.

The vote was unanimous, 7-0 in favor of Clarke joining the committee.

"Congratulations, Clarke," Lexa said.

"Thanks!" said Clarke. "I just realized that it was probably super awkward of me to sit here while that was happening. Good thing it went how it did, I guess."

Paige was surprised when Lexa actually chuckled at that. To say she wasn't much of a laugher would be an understatement.

Now that they had their ninth member, the group started discussing the day's agenda items.

"Next up is the topic of safety patrols," Lexa said. "Paige has a proposal."

Paige started outlining her plan, which involved additional lighting between the soccer field and the bus stop and a couple of new patrol routes in areas that weren't covered.

Then Clarke raised her hand. "Yes, Clarke?" Paige said.

"Um…I don't really know how these meetings work, and I get that I'm super new, but I have a question." Paige shrugged, and Clarke looked briefly at Lexa, who nodded. "Questions are fine," Abby said.

Clarke said, "I think the lights are a great idea – that part of campus is really dim, and I know a lot of the kids from Polis take the bus after it's dark."

"Thanks," said Paige, and she started to continue – but Clarke spoke again.

"My question is, are we sure that we need _more_ patrols? New routes would mean we'd have to get more people, right? And it seems like the fights and attacks have stopped, or at least there's a normal amount of little scuffles, and…" She trailed off. "I don't know, it just seems like maybe we should be cutting the patrols back and sending a message that we trust our fellow students to be responsible."

Everyone around the table was quiet for a minute as they considered it.

Then Paige said, "Well, I think the members of this committee would all agree that the patrols have been effective–"

"Clarke _is_ a member of this committee," Ashley Marin, Hanna's mom and the parent representative, said quietly.

Paige looked at Lexa. "Lexa. You were the one who got attacked on the soccer field. We basically started this whole thing because of you. I know you don't want that to happen to someone else!"

She couldn't believe how calm Lexa looked. Didn't she see that Paige just wanted to keep her safe? To keep all of them safe? Surely Lexa, of all people, would agree with her.

Lexa said, "I agree with you about the additional lighting. But I think there's wisdom in Clarke's idea to put more responsibility on the shoulders of the student body – not to patrol each other, but to be good citizens because it's the right thing to do."

Paige looked at Abby, feeling a bit desperate. "Principal Griffin? Are you really going to consider this? I just don't think that it's time to throw out the patrols yet."

"Paige," Abby said. "I don't think anyone's proposing that. But I do think there have been some good points raised–"

"Well, maybe a mother and daughter shouldn't be on the same committee!" Paige blurted out.

Clarke's eyes flashed. "Well, maybe two people who are dating shouldn't be on the committee either!"

Abby looked around. "Wait – are you and Lexa–" She stopped, as Lexa looked profoundly uncomfortable, Clarke looked mortified, and Paige looked like she was about to kick over a garbage can. "I didn't realize," Abby said more quietly.

Lexa took a deep breath and said, "I move that we adjourn for the day." Everyone nodded. They could reconvene when tensions weren't running so high.

Paige stormed out, ignoring Abby's worried look and Clarke's stammered apology. She burst into the hallway, not sure where she was headed.

God, McCullers, what's your problem? she thought. That kind of came out of nowhere.

Paige ended up on the pool deck and sat down heavily in the stands. She wasn't surprised to find herself there – this was her safe place, always had been.

Then she felt both relieved and mildly embarrassed when she heard graceful footsteps and a voice saying "Paige?"

"Hey," she said, looking up to see Lexa, her brows knitted slightly in concern. "Sorry about…back there."

"Paige…are you all right?" Lexa said.

Somehow that only irritated Paige more. She was fine, couldn't people see that? "I'm fine," she said.

Lexa walked over and sat down beside her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know, Lexa," Paige said, frustration bubbling up inside her again. "Do _you_ want to talk about it? About the fact that you totally should have had my back in there, because I'm the one trying to keep people safe? About the fact that Principal Griffin has been on this committee with us for weeks now and she had no idea we were dating – or whatever we even are? Does none of that seem weird to you?"

Lexa was quiet for a moment, no surprise there. Then she took Paige's hand and looked at her. Paige met her eyes, a little reluctantly. "I'm not going to make a big speech," Lexa said. Paige smiled a little at that.

Lexa sighed. "I don't do relationships well. I like to keep my feelings private, and I also don't think my feelings for you should affect decisions I make on the committee."

Paige stiffened a little and mumbled, "I'm not sure staying on the committee is the best idea for me."

"Stay," Lexa said. "We're doing good work. You're doing good work. You always make sure safety is the top priority, and we need you."

Paige looked down at her feet. "I'll think about it," she said. She still felt like a lot of things were unresolved, but didn't think pushing Lexa on it tonight was the right call.

Lexa stood, still holding on to Paige's hand. Paige stood too. "We need to be more of a team," said Lexa. "The three of us." Paige scoffed a little, and Lexa tightened her grip. "You and Clarke are both trying to do what's right," she said. "I'll think of a project that the three of us can work together on."

"Okay," said Paige. She gave Lexa a rueful half-smirk and released her hand, turning to go.

She was surprised when Lexa caught her hand again, pulling Paige into her arms. "If you're mad at me, does that mean we can't do this?" she teased, raising an eyebrow.

Paige shook her head and let Lexa pull her in. Things weren't quite right, but she couldn't fix them yet.

She was out of her element.

Next chapter: Octavia! (This one was kind of a downer, sorry – Octavia is always fun thoJ)


	14. Chapter 14: Octavia

"I've never seen someone cram that many pancakes into their mouth at once. And I've lived with you literally my entire life, so I don't even know why I'm surprised."

If Bellamy could have stuck his tongue out at Octavia for that, he probably would have. But he had to settle for kicking her under the table. She yelped.

"Octavia, don't pick on your brother," their mom Aurora said from near the sink, where she was cleaning up the skillet. "And Bellamy, don't kick your sister." She blew a strand of hair out of her face and tried to hide a smile. "I swear, if I didn't raise you myself I'd think you were born in a barn."

"You know you love us, Mom," said Bellamy, as he stood and gulped his orange juice. He put his dishes in the sink and smacked a kiss to their mom's cheek. "I'm going to brush my teeth and get out of here."

"God help me, I do love you two," Aurora said to Octavia as Bellamy hustled out of the kitchen.

"I know you do, Mom," Octavia said, smiling. "Now why don't you sit down and eat something? I'll take care of the dishes."

But her mother waved her off. "Don't worry about it, I got these. I need to leave for work in a few minutes anyway."

Octavia cleared the table and stacked the dishes in the sink as neatly as she could. She knew there was no point trying to argue, never mind the fact that her mom had gotten home from her second job 6 hours ago, crashed for a few hours, and then woken up early to make their favorite breakfast.

"So, is he rushing out of here every morning to see that girlfriend of his?" Aurora said, turning to face Octavia for a minute.

Octavia shrugged. "I guess so."

"Is she nice?"

Octavia shrugged again. "Nice enough. She's kind of…"

…"awesome," Bellamy finished for her, flying back through the kitchen and grabbing a pancake for the road. "Spencer is awesome, Mom. You'd like her. See you!" And he was out the door.

Aurora and Octavia looked at each other, and both shook their heads in that "gotta love him" way they always did.

A little later, Octavia was waiting for Raven right inside the front door. Her mom had just dashed out the door to catch the bus to Job #1, giving Octavia a quick hug as she left.

Raven honked, and Octavia went outside and got in the passenger side. "Hey, kiddo," Raven said with a grin.

"I'm like four years younger than you," Octavia said. "And why are you grinning? It's creepy how happy you are these days."

"I think it's more like five years," said Raven as she drove out of their apartment complex. "And I'm not grinning."

Octavia almost let it go. But not quite. "Is this because of the new "guy" you're seeing?" she said, sounding a little grumpier than she meant to.

"What's with the air quotes?" Raven said. "If you have something to say, just say it."

Octavia wished she'd kept her mouth shut now. "It's nothing," she grumbled, and looked out the window until they got to Clarke's house. Luckily, Raven didn't pursue it (you never knew with her, sometimes she just wouldn't let stuff go).

Octavia slid into the back seat so Clarke could take shotgun, observing their unspoken hierarchy. The three of them had met at Arkadia Academy when Octavia was a freshman, Clarke was a sophomore, and Raven was a senior. They'd instantly connected, Octavia thought probably because their lives were such shitstorms.

Which is why it was so weird that over the past year, Raven seemed to have developed a crush on Clarke's mom. Her MOM! So weird. Octavia wished she could un-notice it, but she always noticed more than people gave her credit for. And lately, signs were pointing to maybe something actually happening there.

It's not that she had a problem with it, exactly – it was more like, Clarke was her best friend, and Raven was her other best friend, and if one of them had the hots for the other one's mom and everyone knew it, that would make things super weird between the three of them. Had to, right?

But whatever, they were at school now, so except for maybe lunch she wouldn't see Clarke at all, and definitely not Raven. The day's weirdness was over.

"You guys need a ride home after practice today?" Raven was asking.

"Yeah," said Clarke. "Do you mind?"

"You know I don't," Raven said. "How about you, O?"

"No, I'm good," Octavia said. They both looked at her. "Why? Are you staying over at Caleb's?" Clarke asked.

"What? No. We don't – we don't do that," Octavia stammered. "I'm just going to take the bus to this gym over by Polis, thought I'd try out a kickboxing lesson and some kid in my econ class recommended it."

"Great," said Clarke, rolling her eyes. "Because you SO needed to be even more intimidating."

Raven laughed as Octavia smacked the back of Clarke's seat. They piled out of the car and Raven drove off, calling "Later, Griffin!" out the window.

"Doesn't she seem happier these days?" Clarke said absently as they headed up to the school.

"Hadn't noticed," mumbled Octavia. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clarke give her a funny look. Then Octavia saw someone she knew: "Hey, Paige!" she called, escaping the soon-to-be awkward conversation. "See you, Clarke," she said, hurrying to catch up with Paige. She'd pick rude over awkward any day, and she figured that with things getting weird on the Safety Committee, Clarke wouldn't try to keep up.

She was right. But the look on Clarke's face as she rushed off made Octavia feel a little guilty.

"Hey," said Paige as she caught up to her. "Did you just want to talk some smack about how field hockey is so much harder than swimming?"

"No," said Octavia. "I feel like I've already explained that to you like a thousand times. Just thought I'd come say hi, see what's new." She actually had a lot of respect for Paige as a fellow athlete, but they hadn't hung out much.

Paige looked a little surprised. "Um…not much, I guess. Swimming, school, Safety Committee, that's about it for me. I usually get here early to swim in the mornings, but I wasn't feeling it today."

"Does anything fun ever happen around here?" Octavia said.

Paige thought about it for a minute. "Well, the Halloween Train is coming up – have you heard about that yet?" Octavia shook her head. Paige continued, "It's a Rosewood tradition. Sometimes there are bodies in the ice cooler, and I doubt Aria will be going – she had a pretty rough time last year – but I'm sure Caleb would be up for it if you guys wanted to go."

Oh yeah, Caleb! thought Octavia. She hadn't seen him that morning. Usually he was waiting for her on the front steps and they walked in together.

"Halloween Train sounds cool," she said to Paige, pulling out her phone. "See you at lunch maybe?" Paige nodded and headed to her first class.

Octavia paused by the lockers and texted Caleb:

 ** _Ravenswood?_**

Since the first time he'd mentioned his mysterious trips to Ravenswood, Caleb hadn't brought it up again and Octavia hadn't asked. Of course she'd been curious – who wouldn't be? – but she wasn't really the prying kind, and he wasn't really the sharing kind. So it just sat there, this unspoken _thing_ between them, this secret place.

The hallway was almost empty now – the first bell had already rung, and the second one would ring any minute. Octavia leaned against the wall for a minute in case Caleb texted her back before class started.

The front door of the school banged open, and Bellamy and Spencer ran in, hand in hand, cheeks rosy from the October chill. "Are we late?" Bellamy panted, seeing Octavia. She shook her head. "Almost, though."

Then she gave him her best judge-y look. "Question: if you left before me…why are you guys getting here so late?" Bellamy actually flushed a little at that and muttered, "It's not what you think," and Spencer laughed at his response.

Octavia turned to her then. "So, will this be the first time Spencer Hastings has ever been late for class?" Spencer seemed to think about it for a minute. "Maybe…the second time." Then she ducked her head a little and grinned up at Bellamy. "Okay, it actually is the first."

Octavia had to admit, that was pretty cute. Things had started out a little rough between her and Spencer – Rosewood High seemed to have far more than its share of alpha females this year – but lately, they'd been thawing a bit. Spencer and Clarke had a bunch of classes together and had become good friends, and of course she was dating Octavia's brother. So there were reasons to make an effort.

Also, Spencer had held her own when Octavia grilled her about Bellamy at The Brew one time, and (although she would never admit it), Octavia had been as surprised as anyone when she got field hockey captain over Spencer. The girl had mad skills on the field.

So, all in all, things between them were a little complicated but mostly okay.

"What are you doing out here, O?" Bellamy was asking, even as he grinned at Spencer's admission that she'd never been late to school before.

"Waiting for a text," said Octavia. "But I don't think it's coming, so I'm just going to head to class. See you guys later." She walked off, mentally high-fiving herself for not rolling her eyes when they kissed each other goodbye.

The second bell rang as she slid into her seat, still in a thoughtful mood. She was glad to see Bellamy so happy. He'd always had a way with the ladies (as he loved to remind everyone) – he'd even hooked up with Raven one time, she remembered suddenly – but she'd never seen him in a serious relationship before. It brought out a different side of him, a side no one but she and her mom usually got to see, the side where he secretly liked to read books by dead philosophers, the side where he was really sweet.

Their dad was out of the picture. He'd barely been happy with one kid, and as soon as Aurora told him she was pregnant again, he split. Octavia had never even met him, but she was sure it wouldn't have helped if he'd known she was a girl.

Bellamy helped raise her, even though he was only a little more than a year older. Their mom had always worked multiple jobs to support her family, so it was just the two of them a lot of the time. And when they both got scholarships to Arkadia, it brought them even closer – even though Octavia knew it wasn't true, at times it felt like the Blakes vs. the rich kids whose parents were paying for them to go there.

So they got along better than most siblings. You couldn't help but like Bellamy, even if you were his little sister and he was sometimes overprotective.

That reminded her: maybe Caleb had texted her back. She checked her phone. He hadn't.

And Octavia was not a needy person in any sense of the word, but that kinda pissed her off.

The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully, and Octavia got swept up in the rhythm of class-class-class-lunch-class-class-class.

At field hockey practice, she and Spencer were unstoppable, and when their coach complimented them on their teamwork they shared an exhausted grin.

Octavia didn't bother showering after practice since she'd just be getting sweaty again at kickboxing. She threw her pads in her locker and went out to catch the bus.

When she got to the gym, she had to double-check the address in her phone. It was a nondescript, kind of run-down brick building. But inside, it was well-lit, a little shabby, maybe, but the equipment looked like they kept it up well. A man and a woman were sparring in the center ring, but Octavia didn't pay them much attention.

A bearded guy came over and greeted her. "I'm Gustus," he said in a friendly, booming voice as Octavia shook his hand. "Octavia," she said, taking an instant liking to him.

"Ah! You're my kickboxing lesson!" said Gustus. He gestured for her to set her backpack down, clapped her on the back (laughing when she apologized for being sweaty), and guided her over to where a bag was hanging. "You know what to do with one of these?" he asked.

In response, Octavia planted her feet, put her hands up, and threw six quick punches at the bag. Gustus threw his head back and laughed. "Not bad!" he said. "You're quick, and there's some power there too. I can see that you know how to throw a punch. You know how to kick, too?"

Octavia shook her head. "That's why I'm here."

Gustus said, "All right, let's get you started on a workout." Just then, someone came in the door. "Excuse me just a second," Gustus said. Then he called "Hey! Lincoln!" and now Octavia finally looked to the middle of the room, at the couple who'd been sparring. Sure enough, it was two kids from her school – Lincoln and Hanna.

Octavia was a little surprised – not to see Lincoln, he looked like he lived in a gym, but to see Hanna. Hanna was the kind of girl Octavia had no opinion about. They just didn't seem to live in the same world. But there Hanna was, waving at her now that she and Lincoln had put their gloves down. (Which was weird, right? Why would she wave at Octavia happily when Octavia was dating her ex?)

Lincoln came over. He nodded to Octavia.

Gustus said, "Can you please show my new friend Octavia here our first bag workout while I go help the gentleman who just came in?"

Lincoln nodded again. "Five low, five high each side, jabs, hooks, knees?"

"You got it," Gustus said. Then he walked over and greeted the new customer, leaving Lincoln and Octavia alone.

They looked at each other for a second. Octavia could see a thin sheen of sweat from Lincoln's workout with Hanna. She was suddenly aware of how she probably looked (and smelled), too. And she felt, rather than saw, Hanna watching them from the ring in the center.

Lincoln broke the moment by clearing his throat. "Okay," he said. "Did you catch all that?"

Octavia cracked a smile. "Five low, five high…then you lost me after that." She thought she saw an answering smile in how his eyes crinkled.

While Gustus talked with the other customer, Lincoln demonstrated each move for her, getting Octavia to repeat his actions and quietly giving her feedback. When she could do all the moves to his satisfaction, he listed the combo for her again and had her give it a try.

Hanna cleared her throat loudly, and Lincoln looked over and gave her a tiny shrug. "Gustus," he said. "You ready?"

Gustus came over. "How's it going, Octavia?" She grunted in response, throwing her whole body into each punch, each kick. She vaguely noticed as Lincoln went back to the ring, heard Hanna say something to him but didn't much care. This felt GOOD.

She worked out with Gustus until the hour was up. Lincoln and Hanna had left at some point. Gustus shook her hand again and said he was looking forward to working with her. They agreed that Octavia would come by twice a week and some Saturdays.

Octavia left feeling better than she had in a while. She'd forgotten all about being mad at Caleb, so when he texted her:

 ** _Yeah, I'm so sorry, things here got crazy. You okay?_**

She had to take a minute to remember what he was talking about. Then she smiled, thinking back to her time at the gym, and tapped out a reply:

 ** _Yep. I really am._**

Next chapter: Hanna!


	15. Chapter 15: Hanna

Hanna groaned and banged her forehead down on the book in front of her. She fumbled for her latte and knocked it off the edge of the table – of course, because it was that kind of a day.

She tensed for a splash and burn, but the cup never hit the ground.

Hanna raised her head and looked to the side. A hand had reached out and snagged her cup just as it went over the edge. A hand with perfectly manicured burgundy nails that could scratch your eyes out in a heartbeat.

"Mona?" Hanna said, finally looking up to see her standing there. "How did you – are you a ninja?"

"Adrenalized hyperreality, my darling," said Mona. She casually deposited Hanna's drink back on the table and crossed her arms, regarding Hanna coolly. Hanna could see Emily at the counter over Mona's shoulder, watching them with wide eyes – but she'd been slammed all evening with a constant stream of customers, and couldn't come over to intervene.

"What are you doing here?" Hanna said.

"Well, I'm clearly not here for the coffee – or the service," said Mona, looking around The Brew. She had a look on her face that was halfway between a sneer and a smirk – a snirk? thought Hanna absently. Then Mona fixed Hanna with her piercing gaze. "I was walking by and I saw a familiar blonde head flopped morosely on the table. Thought I'd see how my 'bestie' was doing."

"Mona, we haven't been besties for a long time."

The mask slipped for a split second as Mona said softly, "I know." Then it was firmly back in place. "So, Halloween Train this weekend. I assume you and Caleb will do some disgustingly cute couple's costume?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. "We both know you're a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them, Mona. You know Caleb and I aren't together anymore."

"Ah yes, he'll probably bring that dark-eyed little firecracker of his. Will you be bringing Mr. Tattooed-and-Taciturn, then?"

Hanna smiled to herself a little – this whole thing was just so _Mona_. The wordplay, the subtle attempts at manipulation – it must be killing her not to get a rise out of Hanna the way she used to.

She decided to take the upper hand, aggressively steering the conversation away from her love life. "What will _you_ be going as, Mona? Trying to find out what my date will be dressed as, so that you can wear the same costume and feel me up a little? Or will you go with the classic Allison-mask-under-baby-mask combo? Or – what if you and Allison both wore masks of your own faces, on top of masks of each other's faces?"

Mona's expression was unreadable as she said, "Actually, I was thinking about going as a Teletubby."

Hanna couldn't help herself: she burst out laughing. The corner of Mona's mouth twitched, and she lost her inner battle too, erupting in un-Mona-like guffaws that Hanna hadn't heard since eighth grade.

They were wiping their eyes and catching their breath when Spencer walked up, fresh from field hockey practice and looking bemused. "Is . . . everything all right?" she asked hesitantly.

Mona quickly composed herself and whirled to face Spencer. "Han and I were just catching up. But three's a crowd, so I'm leaving now." She paused and gave Hanna the tiniest of smiles before sashaying out the door.

Spencer gestured to the chair across from Hanna. "Mind if I sit down?"

Hanna said, "Be my guest." She was suddenly jolted back to academic reality and heaved a big sigh, running her hand through her hair and tapping her pen absently with the other.

Spencer's expression softened. "Hey – are you okay? I haven't seen you around much lately." She reached across the table, laying a comforting hand on top of Hanna's and stilling her pen tapping.

Hanna looked up at her. "Well, your new bestie is besties with my ex's current girlfriend, so it's a little weird for us all to mingle in one big happy group. And my mom is super busy with work and the Safety Committee, so my house is starting to feel like yours. I've been hanging out at the gym a lot after school, but today Lincoln had a family thing and I had to work on this damn trig homework, so here we are."

"You are looking super ripped these days," said Spencer with a grin, sitting back and sneaking a drink of Hanna's latte.

"I love that that's the only thing you picked up on in that whole rant," said Hanna.

Spencer shrugged. "I think the Caleb and Octavia and Clarke thing is only as weird as you want it to be." She changed the subject. "What were you and Mona talking about?"

Hanna said, "The Halloween Train, mostly."

"Are you going?" Spencer asked.

"Actually, I thought I might hang out with Aria," Hanna said. "She's kinda skeeved out after the whole 'being-locked-in-a-coffin-with-a-dead-crooked-cop' thing. Plus Ezra won't be around that weekend, he's at some conference in Boston. And the Halloween Train isn't really Lincoln's scene."

"That's cool of you," Spencer said with a smile. "Speaking of Lincoln . . . how are things going with the two of you? Has he taken you 'camping' yet, or is that just a Caleb move?"

"We're taking it slow – well, actually, _he's_ taking it slow," said Hanna. "Not, like, Sean slow," (Spencer chuckled at that) "but still. I'm starting to worry that it's me." She looked at Spencer hesitantly. "Do you think it could be . . . the money thing?"

Spencer thought for a moment. "It doesn't seem that way from the outside. I had a little of that situation with Alex, do you remember him?" Hanna nodded. "But ultimately I messed it up by being pushy, not because I had more money than he did." She grinned mischievously and added, "Besides, don't you keep your money in pasta boxes and paper towel dispensers? He really shouldn't find that super threatening."

Hanna smacked her on the shoulder, then looked up as the door opened. Her face fell a tiny bit. "Oh. Your friends are here," she said. Spencer turned and saw Clarke and Octavia. Clarke waved, and Octavia nodded as they went to order their drinks from Emily.

When Spencer turned back, Hanna was packing up her books. As she went to stand up, Spencer put a hand on her arm. "Hey. Hang out for a little?"

Hanna softened and sat back down. "Only for you, Hastings," she said with a little smile. It had been a long time since they'd hung out, and she could get through a few awkward minutes with Caleb's girlfriend. She was Hanna frickin' Marin, after all.

But as Octavia made her way over to their table, Hanna frickin' Marin realized that she still needed a minute. "I'm going to refresh my latte," she said, standing up. "You want anything, Spence?"

"I'm good," Spencer said. Hanna acknowledged Octavia with a little wave as they passed, and Octavia gave her typical unsmiling nod.

When she got to the counter, she overheard Emily saying ". . . so you can't hang out at all? I was about to take my first break of the afternoon."

Clarke sighed, lacing her fingers through Emily's. "I just came by to grab a chai latte to go – Safety Committee meeting tonight, remember?"

"Want to hang out afterwards, then?" Emily said. "My shift ends around the time you guys will be done, right?"

Hanna noticed Emily's downcast look as Clarke said, "I'd love to, but . . ."

". . . you're meeting with Paige and Lexa to work on that project, aren't you?" Emily finished for her. Clarke nodded.

"Hey. It's cool," said Emily, patting Clarke's hand and pulling hers away. She saw Hanna and said brightly, "Hey, Han! You ready for a refill on that?"

As Hanna handed her cup over, Clarke mumbled goodbye and headed back out. Emily's eyes lingered on her. Guess I'm not the only one feeling a little neglected, Hanna thought.

"Em. You okay?" she said.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Emily said, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Here's your drink." And she turned to help the next customer.

Hanna walked sort of aimlessly back over to the table where Spencer and Octavia were laughing about something. Probably something field hockey related, or about how they were practically in-laws. Hanna mentally rolled her eyes as she sat down.

"So, Octavia was just telling me that she started going to the gym where you and Lincoln work out?" Spencer said.

"Yep," said Hanna. Like Octavia hadn't moved in on enough stuff in her life already – her ex, her friends, now the one thing that she and her current boyfriend had in common.

Spencer must have been able to read some of that on Hanna's face, because her eyes narrowed in that calculating way all the Hastings women had.

Luckily, Octavia broke the tension, saying, "Hey, what's the deal with this Halloween Train Paige told me about?"

"Typical Rosewood fun," Spencer said, shifting her focus to Octavia. "People get dressed to the nines, in an enclosed environment, and inevitably something goes horribly wrong." She grinned. "Should be super fun, though – you want to go?"

"Yeah, let's ask Caleb about it when he gets here," Octavia said. Hanna stiffened and got up to leave, gathering her stuff again. "Hey guys, I really need to finish this trig homework somewhere . . . quiet," she said. "Have fun planning your night at the Halloween Train." And she left them so quickly that not even Spencer Hastings could get a word in.

As she walked out, Hanna waved at Emily, looking sad behind the counter. She overheard Octavia saying to Clarke, like neither of them had a care in the world, "So tell me about the weird shit that went down on the train last year."

And she realized for the first time that having the Arkadia kids join Rosewood was causing more problems than it was helping.

Next chapter: Lexa!

And coming soon (hopefully sooner than this update, eek): The Halloween Train, starring Everyone!


	16. Chapter 16: LexaPaigeClarke

In which I try to set up the Halloween Train because OMG I just want to dress them all up in costumes already! Also, stuff happens.

There was silence in Clarke Griffin's bedroom.

It looked like the start of a joke ("a brunette, a blonde and a redhead walk into a room") – but as the moment stretched out, they could all feel the tension, the invisible lines connecting each of them in different ways. And no one was laughing.

But then Clarke cracked a half-smile from where she sat, straddling her desk chair backwards. "Wait a second, you're serious?"

Lexa looked at her calmly. "When am I not?" She was sitting cross-legged on the end of Clarke's bed. She could have been doing yoga, she was so still.

Paige stopped pacing near the window for a second and snorted at that.

"Yeah, good point," said Clarke, still smiling. Lexa held her gaze, and Clarke suddenly felt the need to start fiddling with her chair, adjusting the seat so she could rest her chin on the back more comfortably.

"Lexa," Paige said. Lexa turned slightly to face her. "What, exactly, does the Halloween Train have to do with the Safety Committee? I thought you had some brilliant project for the three of us to work on, some _bonding_ thing."

Lexa considered the question for a moment, then answered decisively. "Even before the three high schools merged, this town had a history of its own. A dark history." She looked at each of them in turn. "As leaders, it's our responsibility to ensure the safety of our fellow students, and part of that means helping Rosewood move forward, to let go of the ghosts of the past."

She gracefully unfolded herself from the foot of the bed and stood in front of Paige. "Paige –" Lexa put a hand on her arm. Paige turned away and looked out the window.

Lexa's head dipped just for a second, but she recovered quickly and addressed Paige's back. "I know it seems silly, but to me it just makes sense to have the Safety Committee involved in the Halloween Train. It's an opportunity to move on from last year's tragedies, to start fresh, to continue bringing our tribes together."

Paige kept looking out the window at the unfamiliar street, just a short drive from the streets of Rosewood and yet a whole world away.

It seemed like Lexa only opened up about things like this. Civic duty, blah blah blah. But open up about anything personal? Forget it. Paige was still miffed about their last meeting, when Clarke had proposed ending the patrols and Lexa jumped right on board, along with everyone but Paige.

She turned around and leaned against the windowsill, looking around the room so she could avoid Lexa's eyes. She saw Clarke's to-go cup from The Brew sitting on her desk, and when she recognized the cute little heart drawn on it, her own heart tightened unexpectedly.

God, she missed Emily. She didn't want to admit how much, but it was getting harder and harder not to compare Lexa's distance, her commanding presence with Emily's sweetness and warmth. Paige had realized recently that she couldn't _be_ that person in a relationship (the sweet one, the expressive one), and with Lexa being Lexa, it felt like she had to be by default.

And Paige McCullers hated being things she had to be. Her whole life, she'd been trying to be what others needed her to be: her father, her coaches, the world. Only one person had ever seen something in her and told her not to look away. Had drawn hearts on _her_ coffee drinks. And she'd let her go.

 _Ugh, McCullers, focus!_ she said to herself.

So she made a decision.

She rubbed her eyes. Lexa was still patiently watching her. Paige finally dragged her eyes up to meet Lexa's, then shrugged a little. "Guess we better get started if we're going to pull this off by tomorrow night," she said.

From where she was sitting, Clarke could see Lexa visibly relax, some of the tension in her shoulders releasing as she gave Paige a nod. Then they both looked at her, and she grinned. "You know I'm in," she said.

Clarke picked up her drink, twisting it in her hands. Suddenly she noticed the little heart and smiled. Emily must have drawn that, even though Clarke was being sort of a crappy girlfriend these da–

Wait a second – girlfriend? They hadn't actually made anything official, but now that she was thinking about it she realized it was true. Emily was the kind of girl you took home to meet your grandparents, total girlfriend material. Clarke was the luckiest person in Rosewood.

Except. There was always an "except," wasn't there? Here Clarke was, dating the hottest, sweetest, most awesome girl she'd ever met, and okay maybe there were actually two "excepts."

The first one was something she'd struggled with for a long time, something that had nothing to do with Emily or anyone else. Clarke's whole life, people had looked up to her. It just happened.

It happened when she was five and the only person in her kindergarten class who could open milk cartons, so the whole class would just pass them down and let her work her magic.

It happened in the wake of Finn's death, when as his grieving girlfriend she put her own mourning aside and helped her school heal and move forward.

It was happening now, with the Safety Committee, and always with Raven and Octavia, and every time she looked into Emily's big eyes and saw the emotion there, she felt it too.

And sometimes she was so damn sick of having people look to her to be _more_. She just wanted to be one of them. To find someone who would treat her as an equal. But at the same time, Emily was so much _better_ than Clarke, in so many ways.

Ugh, maybe she was overthinking it. But then she looked at the _second_ "except" in her life right now…

Lexa sat back down on the end of the bed. Paige's behavior the last couple of days was confusing her. She needed to put a stop to it somehow, as it was preventing her from accomplishing certain goals.

She allowed herself a moment to reflect. When the high schools had first come together, the threats were more obvious. Fights, bullying, insurgents like John Murphy – these were easy to quantify, to manage. But now, something unseen lurked just outside Lexa's direct view, and it made her uneasy. There was much she wanted to accomplish.

Lexa pulled her attention to the present. Paige was saying, "What is there even to do? It's happening tomorrow – I'm pretty sure they didn't put off all the planning until the night before."

Lexa began, "I was thinking–"

At the same time, Clarke said, "Why don't we–"

Lexa smiled and gestured for Clarke to continue. (Paige rolled her eyes – only inwardly, although she was sure neither of them would notice either way.)

Clarke cleared her throat. "What if we got each member of the Safety Committee involved? Have each of them take on a role that uses their skills in some way."

Lexa permitted herself a small smile and said, "That's exactly what I was going to say. We can propose a set of tasks to each member, get involved, be visible, and make it clear that this group is here to help, to be a part of the community." She and Clarke looked at Paige then, who shrugged and pushed herself off the wall. The three of them sat on Clarke's floor and started making a list.

Clarke suggested that their first recruit be her mom – Abby should be able to call the organizers and get the go-ahead for their entire plan. Lexa nodded, and Clarke hurried out of the room to find her.

As soon as she left, Lexa turned to Paige. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm not sure there's anything to talk about," Paige mumbled. "Look – I'll help you guys tonight, but then I'm done with the committee." Lexa started to say something, but Paige shook her head, cutting her off. Then she said quietly, "And I think – I think I'm done with us, too."

Lexa sat there, stunned. "Is this because of the meeting the other night? Because I thought we talked about that."

"We did, kind of," said Paige, not unkindly. "It's just not what I need right now. It feels like…a step backwards."

Just then, Clarke cleared her throat in the doorway. "Um…my mom called the guy in charge of the Halloween Train just now, and he's on board with the whole plan. Said they can use all the help they can get. Turns out he actually knows my mom or something."

"That's great," said Paige. "Let's finish planning out who does what, and then maybe we can split up the list and call people tonight."

Clarke sat down awkwardly, completing the triangle. Paige didn't know how much she'd overheard, but it was obviously enough. The sooner they could get this done, the better. She had somewhere to be.

Some of the assignments were easy: Doris, the cafeteria worker, was a shoo-in to help with catering. And the school nurse – well, you never knew when a nurse would come in handy at a Rosewood party. As for the rest of the members, one of the girls called each of them and had a conversation about how they wanted to contribute. It turned out that Mrs. Welch, the English teacher, had boxes full of Halloween decorations in her garage. And Ashley Marin actually had Lexa convinced that she'd be on "wine duty" for a couple of minutes, until she broke out laughing and offered to bring some extra costume pieces instead.

At one point, Paige got up and went to the bathroom, and Clarke looked at Lexa questioningly. But Lexa wouldn't meet her eyes.

The three of them worked efficiently, and soon the plan came together.

Paige's phone buzzed, and she looked at it absently, assuming it was her father asking when she'd be home. She was about to leave anyway. She had this urge to talk to Emily – just to explain things, not to try to win her back.

But she hissed involuntarily when she saw:

 ** _Oh, Paige. You really think Emily's safe just because she's not dating YOU?_**

 ** _-A._**

"I – I have to go," Paige stammered, standing up and leaning heavily on the bed when she realized her leg was asleep.

Clarke and Lexa looked up at her, concerned. Clarke was doodling poster designs, and Lexa was putting her phone away. "I'm sure my mom can give you a ride," Clarke said. "Just hang on a minute, let's ask her–"

"No, it's fine," Paige said. She found her shoes and was already heading out the door. "Clarke, is there a bus stop anywhere near here?"

"Yeah, it's a couple blocks that way and then over," said Clarke. "But seriously, it's late–"

"See you guys tomorrow." And Paige was out the door.

Clarke and Lexa looked at each other, and Clarke saw her own surprise mirrored in Lexa's wide eyes.

Paige stalked out of the house in a blind fury. Screw this. No one was going to control her ever again. A was the only reason she and Emily broke up in the first place, and now it was looking like that was all for nothing.

"I'm going after her," said Lexa. She stood, then paused and looked back at Clarke. "Thank you for hosting us here. I think–" here, she looked down for a second, as if it were hard to continue – "I think the three of us could have done a lot of good."

And she rushed out after Paige, into the night.

Paige got to the bus stop and slumped against the sign post. Her head was swirling – with thoughts of Lexa, of Emily, of the Halloween Train.

Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth from behind. She threw an elbow backwards out of habit, and her attacker grunted.

But then Paige felt a sharp sting in her lower back, and another, and another…and as she fell to her knees, as she felt the knife slide out one last time…she thought of the train again, and Emily in her Barbarella costume…and she opened her mouth to say something, and she smiled.

Back in her room, Clarke looked at the list one last time. They'd accomplished a lot in just one evening. She was embarrassed about what she'd walked in on, and she hoped Lexa and Paige would still be able to work together. Clarke sighed and got ready for bed.

Lexa woke up, alone in the dark. Wait – not alone. She saw Paige lying a short distance away. That's odd, she thought.

And then blue lights were flashing, and sirens were splitting the night, and as Lexa stood up and shook her head to clear it, she realized she was holding something in her hand.

It was a knife.

Next chapter: The Halloween Train!


	17. Chapter 17: Everyone, on a Train

In which I decided that maybe I should only write Halloween party one-shots for the rest of my life, because costumes!

Disclaimer for notes: PAIGE IS ALIVE. I know some people were worried about that over at AO3.

(Also please pretend that the Rosewood police are keeping Paige's attack a secret or something and that's why they haven't called anyone to investigate. I just want to have my Halloween Train, gosh darn it, and we can deal with the police next chapter.)

Clarke sighed and pressed End on her phone. Again.

Two hours to go until the Halloween Train left the station, and still no sign of Lexa or Paige. She threw her head back, leaned against the window, and took a deep breath.

"Still no word, hon?" Abby Griffin, in full organizer mode, paused on her rounds to rest a hand on Clarke's shoulder. She'd been checking in with Clarke as each member of the Safety Committee arrived, then setting them about whatever tasks Clarke had on her list. So far she'd put Mrs. Welch on decorations, Ashley Marin was setting up a photo booth with costume pieces, Doris from the cafeteria had joined the catering crew, and now she was looking for a good place for the school nurse to sit.

Clarke shook her head, straightening up from where she was slumped against the wall. "I've called, left messages, texted…I just don't understand. When they left last night, I thought we all agreed to be here by now. Now I don't know how we're going to get everything ready in time. Octavia and Raven are on their way now, but still."

Then it hit her. "Wait, what am I thinking? There's literally only one person in Rosewood who could pull this off!"

Abby smiled and walked on as Clarke picked her phone up excitedly. She bit her lip a little, thinking about Clarke's comment that Octavia and Raven would be there soon. This would be the first time she'd seen Raven in a large group since they started…whatever they'd started, and aside from a fleeting kiss or two, they hadn't been _together_ since that first night (and morning).

And it was driving Abby crazy.

She shook her head and got back to the task at hand.

Clarke was just hanging up when she heard Octavia exclaim, "Are you freaking kidding me?!" She grinned and turned to see Octavia and Raven boarding the train.

Raven's mouth twitched – she was obviously trying not to burst out laughing as she said, "O, I think you should just _let it go._ "

"Hilarious," said Clarke, crossing her arms over her chest and fake-glaring at both of them. She was wearing a shimmery blue dress and matching shoes, and her blonde hair was braided, cascading elegantly over one shoulder. "Emily and I decided to dress as our favorite Disney princesses and surprise each other. So shut up already or I'll…freeze your hearts or something."

She tilted her head a little. "So…what are you two supposed to be, anyway? A midget wrestler and…C-3PO?" Octavia was wearing a black sports bra, black gym shorts, gym shoes, and what looked like fingerless hockey gloves, while Raven had on dusty jeans, kickass work boots, three or four belts around her torso, and some kind of steampunk getup covering her left arm.

Octavia turned to Raven and said, "I literally have no words for her right now." Raven grinned at Clarke. "Imperator Furiosa is here and ready to kick some event-planning ass. But you were pretty much right about the tiny wrestler."

Octavia whacked her on the arm. "Idiots. I'm former UFC champion Ronda Rousey!"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Clarke said. "You guys both look great."

"So, what can we do?" Raven asked. And Clarke put them to work.

Raven was assigned to decorating duty for now, and she grumbled a little until Clarke shut her up with a look. She grabbed a big box out of Mrs. Welch's trunk and somehow managed to hoist it onto the train. There were rubber spiders and snakes stuffed on top, blocking her view, and as she struggled down the narrow hall she suddenly bumped into someone's shoulder and the whole thing went flying to the ground.

"Shit, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Raven said, quickly kneeling down to pick up the scattered creatures.

"Language, Ms. Reyes," said a husky voice, and Raven looked up into Abby's laughing eyes.

They both stood and looked at each other, the box between them forgotten. Raven stood up slowly, taking in Abby's glasses, her button-down shirt and tailored jacket and dark jeans. "Let me guess…Sarah Palin?"

"Very funny," said Abby. "Wrong Tina Fey character, but I think you knew that already."

"Yeah, the glasses are a dead giveaway," Raven said, unable to stop herself from reaching up to slide a finger along the side of them. She leaned a tiny bit closer and said under her breath, "You know these glasses drive me crazy, don't you?"

Abby didn't back away, but whispered back, "Why do you think I planned my whole Halloween costume around them?"

Raven's nostrils flared and she took a step back, clenching and unclenching her fists a few times, trying to release some tension. "I'm trying to behave myself here," she muttered.

Just then Octavia came through the door of the car they were in. "Raven, I know you suck at decorating, but I'm pretty sure throwing everything on the floor doesn't count."

Abby laughed at that. "It's my fault, Octavia – I ran into her. Are you two okay to get this stuff picked up while I go check in with Ashley about the photo booth?" They nodded, Raven still a little stunned.

As Abby walked away, she turned and said over her shoulder, "I loved you in _Mad Max_ , by the way."

Raven grit her teeth and tried to ignore the thoughts in her head, the _I loved you_ that was playing on an infinite loop. "Come on, Short Round, help me load this crap back in the box so we can drop it off with Mrs. Welch."

Octavia rolled her eyes, and the two of them got to work.

Clarke was talking with the caterer about where to set up the drink table when she heard someone squeal "OMG it's Elsaaaaa!" She turned to see Hanna running at her, waving her hands excitedly.

"Hanna. What's wrong with you?" Spencer said affectionately, coming in behind her. Hanna said, "Are you kidding me? I _love_ seeing Disney princesses in real life!" Now she was stroking Clarke's braid, and as Hanna walked around Clarke to see her dress from the back, Clarke could finally see the rest of the group.

"I brought reinforcements," said Spencer with a wink.

"Spencer…thank you so much, this is awesome," said Clarke. Besides Hanna, Spencer had brought Bellamy, Aria and, oh my dear sweet Lord, thought Clarke…Emily.

When they decided to dress like their favorite Disney princesses, Clarke was 90% sure Emily would go with Pocahontas. She'd seen a picture in Emily's room, so she knew she already had the outfit.

But holy Agrabah, the sight in front of her took Clarke's breath away. Red harem pants, what was basically a strapless red bikini top, her long dark hair pulled into a high ponytail, gold bracelets high on one arm, gold earrings…

Hanna had completed her circuit of Clarke's Elsa costume and helpfully put a finger under her chin, shutting her mouth. "I know isn't it the best thing ever she's Jasmine when Jafar holds her captive!" she squealed on one breath.

Clarke swallowed. "Yes, she is," she managed to squeak out.

Emily was blushing now at Clarke's obvious appreciation as she walked over and looked Clarke up and down. "Really glad now that I didn't go with Anna," she said. She flipped the end of Clarke's braid. "It's a good look on you."

Spencer cleared her throat. "Um, Clarke? Is there some actual work you wanted us to do, or…"

Clarke snapped out of it. "Yes! Okay." She took Emily's hand as she handed out assignments. "Hanna, Aria, you two are going to relieve Raven on decorating duty. She just wrestled a box of decorations farther back on the train, so you can go check in with her." She paused. "Wait – what are you two supposed to be? And why are you here? I thought you weren't coming."

"Duh, I'm 80s blonde bombshell Cheryl Ladd," Hanna said with a flip of her feathered hair. She was wearing high-waisted red satin pants with matching red heels, and a red satin track jacket unzipped far enough that it was obvious she wasn't wearing a shirt under it.

"I tried to tell her that jacket-only look probably violated our school dress code about 10 ways, but she just pointed at Emily and I had to concede," said Spencer. "Care to guess who Aria is?"

"Um…Whistler's Mother?" said Clarke. Spencer, Emily, and Bellamy burst out laughing, Hanna looked confused, and Aria sighed. "I'll have you know I'm noted suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton," she said.

Hanna chimed in, "So what happened was, Aria wasn't going to come this year, because of what happened last year, and being an amazing friend I was going to hang out with her at her house. But then we got the call for help from Spencer, Aria grew a backbone, and we each just threw a costume together from what we already had."

Bellamy said, "The hardest part for them was probably choosing _which_ satin track suit and _which_ suffragette costume to pick out of their closets." He and Spencer were dressed straight out of the Roman Empire – Bellamy wore a crown of laurels, a tunic, and a cloak fastened over one shoulder, while Spencer had a sheer flowing white gown with a slim belt, a sparkly headband, and a bow and arrow slung over her back.

"Well, at least _we_ didn't go totally cliché and dress as Katniss and Peeta," said Hanna.

"Hanna. How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not Katniss?" Spencer said.

"Geena Davis then, whatever," said Hanna.

"I'm Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, and my mortal love here is Emperor Augustus." Spencer twined her arm through Bellamy's as she spoke, and they smiled at each other.

"I always pictured you as more of an Athena," Aria said.

"Well, I would have had to be Minerva, Athena's Roman equivalent," said Spencer. "But I really wanted the cool accessory."

"Nerds! We need to get to work here!" Hanna interrupted. Clarke finished giving out their assignments and asked Spencer to stay back. The rest of them dispersed.

Clarke looked at Spencer. "I'm worried, Spencer. There's still a lot to do, but also I'm just worried about Paige and Lexa. No one's heard from them all day, and it's not like them to just not show up."

Spencer thought for a moment. "Yeah, it's not like them at all, is it?" She put a hand on Clarke's arm reassuringly. "Hey – why don't we finish up here, and then maybe Aria can call Ezra and have him go check on them or something?" Clarke nodded, but her eyebrows were still creased.

Spencer pulled out a clipboard. "All right, Griffin – let's get to work. Moments like these are why I live by the motto 'When you feel out of control, make a list.'"

Clarke took a closer look at the clipboard. "Did you make your own checklist?" she asked.

"No, this is the standard template I use for any event longer than one hour that involves more than four people," Spencer said. "Come on, this isn't amateur hour. Tell me what still needs to get done and we'll make it happen." She paused, then added with a mischievous grin, "Unless you'd rather…build a snowman?"

"God, not you too," groaned Clarke. And the two of them got to work.

Together, the members of the Safety Committee and Clarke's extended friend group were able to get everything ready just in time for the doors to open on the Halloween Train.

The first person aboard was Marcus Kane, a former colleague of Abby's who now worked at another high school. He was ostensibly the Halloween Train's organizer, but once Abby called him and volunteered the help of the Safety Committee, he quickly bowed out of doing the work and left it to them.

He strode aboard confidently, a black cloak billowing behind him. Abby and Clarke were near the main door to greet people as they boarded, and Kane went straight to Abby, ignoring Clarke.

"Abby, the train looks wonderful," he said, not looking around. "Many thanks to you and the Safety Committee for your help."

 _Help_? thought Clarke. We did everything! She didn't like the way he clasped Abby's hand between both of his, or the way he looked at her, or his patronizing attitude, or his generic vampire costume.

She happened to glance over at the "bar" that they'd set up for serving Halloween-themed, non-alcoholic drinks – Raven's domain for the evening – and she noticed that Raven was clenching her jaw as she watched the scene.

Abby was saying, "The Safety Committee was happy to do the work. We're hoping this is another chance to bring people together."

Kane leaned in and said, "Well, I'm certainly happy that it's brought us together for the evening."

CRASH! All three of them turned to the bar, startled. Raven had dropped the glass she'd been wiping for the past several minutes.

"Whoops!" she said with a forced smile. "First party foul of the night."

"I'll help you clean up," Abby said, hurrying over.

She bent down to help Raven sweep the shards onto a towel. "Are you okay? Did you cut yourself?" Abby said.

"I'm fine," Raven said curtly. She jerked her head toward Kane. "I don't like that guy."

Abby grinned at her and whispered, "Aww…jealous, baby?" Then she actually _winked_ at Raven, stood up and went to dispose of the towel, leaving Raven gaping after her.

The students were flooding in now, in ones and twos and threes. Clarke spotted several familiar faces, and lots of people she hadn't met yet.

She saw Mona Vanderwaal in a flawless Maleficent costume, horns and black cloak and staff and everything.

She saw Hanna's friend Lucas, looking Comic-Con ready in a homemade (but authentic) Kylo Ren costume.

She saw Alison DiLaurentis dressed as…well, Clark wasn't sure what she was dressed as, but she was looking dangerous in a floor-length hooded black cloak with a skintight, sleeveless black-and-white striped dress and long black gloves.

Then suddenly, Noel Kahn was in front of her. "Hey – it's Clarke, right?" he said. Clarke nodded and said, "And you are…James Dean?" He was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket.

Noel put a hand to his heart, mock offended. "Please. I'm Nick Jonas!" As he wandered off into the crowd, he called back, "Remember – conceal, don't feel!"

The rest of the gang joined her near the door. It was almost time for the Halloween Train to depart.

Hanna pulled Spencer, Aria, and Emily to a relatively uncrowded corner. "What's up, Han?" Spencer said, a little worried. But Hanna wrapped them all in an impulsive group hug and said, "It's been so long since it was just the four of us. I love you guys."

And the four Liars hugged there as the whistle blew.

They broke apart as one more person jumped up the stairs and onto the train.

It was Lincoln, wearing red gym shorts, fingerless boxing gloves and not much else besides a black cloak.

"Daaaaamn," Emily whispered, taking in his abs and general lack of clothing. Spencer and Aria both looked at her, amused, and when she realized she'd spoken out loud she just shrugged and said, "What? I have eyes."

But Hanna missed that whole exchange, because she was looking back and forth between Lincoln and Octavia with a terrifying intensity. Spencer noticed and put a hand on her arm, saying "Han–" but Hanna shook her off and stalked over to him as the train started moving.

Lincoln looked surprised and happy to see her. "Hey! I thought you were staying home with Aria tonight," he said.

"Well, I'm not," said Hanna. "Which means I got to see your little _couples costume_ firsthand."

"Couples costume? What are you talking about?" said Lincoln, genuinely confused. Hanna pointed angrily at Octavia, who quickly looked away and pretended that she hadn't been watching the whole exchange.

Lincoln actually laughed out loud. "Is she Ronda Rousey? That's awesome," he said.

"Is it? Is it awesome?" said Hanna. "You're obviously one of those…fighter…people too. So what, did you guys plan this?"

"Look, I wasn't even going to come tonight," said Lincoln. "But Lexa asked me to come in case she needed help, and Octavia had mentioned it at the gym one day too, and I thought you were staying with Aria so that's why I didn't say anything."

"Just – just stay away from me," Hanna said, and she stormed off to another train car.

Bellamy came over. "Hey, man," he said as they bro-hugged.

"What just happened?" Lincoln muttered.

Bellamy clapped him on the back and said, "Hanna just happened. Give her some space, I'm sure she'll be fine." He looked at Lincoln. "Randy Couture?"

Lincoln nodded. "Where's Lexa?"

"You haven't heard from her?" Clarke said as she hurried over to them. "I've been trying to call her all day. Can't get ahold of her or Paige."

"I thought she was here," said Lincoln. He frowned. "That's not like her."

"Come on, let's go get Aria to call Ezra and have him check on her," said Clarke, pulling Lincoln over to where Aria stood.

Bellamy walked over to Octavia, who was near the bar with Raven. "So…is there a story here? You and Lincoln and your matching fists of fury costumes?"

Octavia glared at him. "How was I supposed to know what he'd dress up as? There's no story, so just butt out." She stalked off in the opposite direction from where Hanna had gone. Bellamy shook his head.

"Buy you a drink, stranger?" Spencer slipped her arms around his waist and he pulled her close.

"Ow," said Bellamy.

"Oh, sorry! That's my clipboard," said Spencer. She put it on the edge of the bar. "Is that better?"

"Where were you even _keeping_ that?" Bellamy said.

"A goddess never tells," she said. "Your mortal brain couldn't handle it."

"Don't insult my mortal brain, Princess – you owe me one for roping me into helping with this, and it's middle-aged-woman central. Mrs. Welch asked me about every book I've ever read, and I think Ashley Marin touched my ass on purpose."

Spencer threw her head back and laughed at that. (God, he loved her laugh.) "She gets a little handsy after a couple glasses of wine…and–" (she lowered her voice) "she's always had at least a couple glasses of wine."

"Well, you can make it up to me later," Bellamy said.

Spencer pretended to consider it. "I don't know…my checklist isn't going to check itself…"

Bellamy leaned in close and said in a low whisper that sent shivers down Spencer's spine, "Well, you are the goddess of the hunt. So prove it and come find me." Then he winked and sauntered off, for once leaving Spencer Hastings speechless.

After she wandered off, Octavia found herself in a mostly deserted car. She was looking out the window, watching the stars come out, when she saw the main guy from V for Vendetta sneaking up behind her.

When he put a hand on her shoulder, she reflexively dug an elbow into his gut and stomped on his foot.

"Ow!" he said, doubling over.

"Caleb?!" said Octavia. She helped him sit down at a table. "What are you doing here? I thought you got stuck in Ravenswood!"

He took a deep breath and flipped his mask up, looking at her with a rueful smile. "I wanted to surprise you. Apparently, it worked a little too well." Then, half to himself, he muttered, "I have GOT to stop sneaking up on people on these trains."

She sat down across from him. "Man, it's good to see you. I'm worried about Paige and Lexa – they didn't show up tonight, and no one has seen them. And everyone is giving me shit because Lincoln and I have matching costumes."

"Lincoln is dressed as Ronda Rousey, too?" Caleb said, grinning. "I've gotta see this – Lincoln in a sports bra is on my bucket list."

She smacked his arm across the table. "Careful, tiny angerball," he said. "That's one of my few uninjured body parts." Then he looked at her more seriously. "Why is it a problem that you and Lincoln have matching costumes?"

Octavia put her head on the table and groaned. "I don't know! I guess it looked like a couples costume or something, but Hanna flipped out about it and even Bellamy didn't seem to get why it's not a big deal."

"Hey," said Caleb. She looked up at him. "It sounds like just a misunderstanding. And besides – it's a little-known fact that Ronda Rousey was the original love interest in V for Vendetta, so really _we're_ the ones with the couples costume!"

"You're stupid," said Octavia, smiling. She took his hand. "Thanks for showing up tonight."

"Anytime," Caleb said. "So should we go party or what?"

They stood up and Octavia impulsively threw her arms around him. Caleb hissed in pain. "Please tell me that was the manliest hiss of pain you ever heard," he said. And they walked off to rejoin the others.

Raven was back in the main car, serving up Vampire-tinis and Hemorrhaging Marys and other awful Halloween-themed non-alcoholic drinks. It was actually all right, but it wasn't what she wanted to be doing, so she mixed up a bunch of drinks, left them on the bar, and grabbed a tray to join the caterers who were circulating throughout the train.

She spotted her target right away. Abby was standing apart from the crowd, looking around and making sure everyone was safe. Raven brushed behind her, much closer than was necessary, and whispered, "I found somewhere we can be alone."

Then she was off before Abby could even turn her head. Raven walked up to a group of witches and offered them some _horrors_ d'oeuvres, looking back at Abby over her shoulder with a smirk.

Serving appetizers gave her the perfect opportunity to tease Abby, and as Raven weaved in and out of the crowd, she whispered one sentence at a time just to see Abby flush.

"There's a car at the back with private cabins."

And, a few minutes later: "They're locked, but I'm pretty sure I can pick the lock."

Even later: "So the good news is…they lock."

And, brushing by her one last time: "I'll meet you there in 10 minutes."

Like her mom, Clarke was keeping an eye on the proceedings, walking through the various cars to see how everything was going. She was still worried about Lexa and Paige, but luckily she had Spencer to distract her with her impressive efficiency, and of course Emily to distract her with sweetness (and, um, cleavage). Emily was on her arm as she made the rounds, and they turned heads every time the two of them entered a train car.

"Do you think we should invite Mona to walk around with us?" said Clarke, spotting her in her Maleficent getup. "Make it a Disney trio?" Emily shot her a look. "After the stunt she pulled last year? Organizing her minions, getting Melissa to drug Aria? I'm amazed they even let her on the train."

She noticed that Clarke still had a slight frown. "Hey," she said, putting a hand on Clarke's arm. They stopped walking for a minute in the passage between two cars, facing each other. "I'm worried about them too," said Emily. "Have you talked to Aria? Did Ezra manage to track them down?"

Clarke shook her head. "There wasn't anyone at Paige's house, and I've actually never been to Lexa's house so I'm not sure where to look for her."

Emily pulled her into a hug. "As soon as we're off this train, let's try to find them," she said.

Clarke nuzzled into her bare neck. "You're so sweet. Is it wrong that all I want to do is chain you up in my dungeon?" she growled.

Just then, someone entered the passage with them. "Now there's a Disney movie I could get into," Alison said.

Emily broke away from Clarke. "Oh. Hi."

"I didn't mean to interrupt, just passing through," said Alison, brushing between them, closer than necessary.

When she was in the next car, Emily looked at Clarke. "What is she even supposed to be?"

"I was thinking sexy Hamburglar," Clarke said with a grin.

"Okay, a – don't call Alison sexy. That girl is trouble, and I would know better than anyone," Emily said. "And b – can we stop babysitting everyone and find somewhere to make out already?"

Clarke took her by the hips and pulled her close. "I thought you'd never ask." She grabbed Emily's hand and pulled her toward the next car. "Let's get out of here, it's freezing."

Emily said with a grin, "I thought the cold never bothered you anyway." Clarke shot her a look, and they hurried on.

"Where is everyone?" Octavia said to Caleb. They were in the main car, with none of their friends in sight.

He shrugged. "Don't know. Do you want to dance or something?"

"Sure," she said. "Want something to drink?"

"Aw, you're such a gent," Caleb said. He dodged the light punch that followed.

Octavia walked up to the drink table right as Lincoln wandered over. "Rousey, huh?" he said.

She nodded. "Couture?"

"Yep."

"Nice."

Octavia grabbed two drinks and went to join Caleb where he was dancing in a small crowd of people.

And she tried, so hard, not to look back.

Aria and Hanna were sitting at a table in the dining car. Hanna was drumming her fingers on the table, still looking peeved. "Han, it was just a coincidence," Aria said. "Come on, get over it and let's have some fun."

"How about you let me pout, and I'll let you fight for the right to bear arms?" Hanna said.

Aria sighed. "It was the right to vote." She looked at Hanna. "But I feel like you knew that."

Hanna shrugged. "Whatever. We all have our role to play."

Aria looked over her shoulder as someone entered the car. "Well, right now I'd suggest that you play the role of 'girl who realizes she overreacted.'" Hanna turned and saw Lincoln holding three drinks, looking sheepish.

He walked over hesitantly and put all three drinks down on their table. "Um. I didn't know what you liked."

Hanna sniffed at the drinks. "How about a shot of honesty?"

"That was terrible," Lincoln said. And Hanna cracked a little smile. "Come on," she said with a sigh. "Let's go somewhere and talk."

Aria watched them go. She thought about texting Ezra, but Spencer had been hounding her about getting him to track down Paige and Lexa, and she didn't want to bother him again.

She looked out the window. Just then, they came out of a tunnel, and the moonlight shone on the window so that she could see something written in the condensation:

 **Do you know where your drink has been, Aria?**

And her heart froze in her chest.

Clarke and Emily tried every cabin in the sleeping car until they found one that was unlocked. They heard noises coming from one of the cabins and exchanged an amused look. Apparently they weren't the only ones who had thought of this.

As soon as they were inside, Emily locked the door and turned to face Clarke, her back against the door. "So, Elsa…"

Clarke crossed the room and kissed her before she could say another word. In between kisses, she muttered, "I swear to God, if you were about to make a Frozen joke…"

"I…forget what I was going to say," breathed Emily, as Clarke tugged out her ponytail, her lips on Emily's neck.

Eventually, they found their way to the couch and stretched out on it, still kissing. Suddenly, Clarke sat up. "Do you smell that?"

Emily sniffed. "Smells like…smoke." They looked at each other, wide-eyed. Then Clarke jumped up and went over to the door, testing the doorknob to see if it was hot. She opened it tentatively and reached back for Emily's hand.

The corridor was filling with smoke. "Stay low," Clarke said.

A nearby door opened and two people tumbled out. "Raven?" said Clarke.

Then she saw the woman Raven was shielding behind her, trying to button up her shirt and adjust her glasses at the same time.

"MOM?!"

Next time: Oh, who cares, they won't be in Halloween costumes so whatever. (Just kidding, we'll check in with Paige and Lexa and find out more about the fire on the train!)


	18. Chapter 18: Emily, sort of

In that frantic moment, Emily couldn't have said who was more aghast – it looked to her like a three-way tie between Abby, Clarke, and Raven.

Raven said, "Clarke, it's not–" at the same time Abby said, "Oh Clarke, we were going to–"

But Clarke cut them both off. "Not. Now." Her teeth were gritted. She looked at Raven. "You and I will talk about this later." Raven looked slightly terrified. Then Clarke looked at Abby. "You and I…should maybe never, ever talk about this." Emily had never seen anyone look as guilty as Abby did in that moment.

Emily was still holding Clarke's hand, and now she squeezed it, stepped into the middle of the group and said, "Later. All of it. Right now, we need to get out of this train car." Clarke looked at her and some of the fire went out of her eyes. She nodded and pushed between Raven and Abby, dragging Emily behind her.

They were in the last car of the train, so there was only one option. They headed straight for the door that connected them to the rest of the train, staying low. Clarke grabbed the handle and pulled on it, hard.

The door didn't budge. Clarke banged her hand on the glass in frustration.

"Looks like the fire is coming from one of the rooms back there," said Abby quietly but urgently. The other three turned and saw the source of the smoke, billowing out from under one of the rooms. They could see flames just starting to lick out from beneath the door as well.

"Everyone on the ground," Clarke said. "Stay under the smoke."

Raven crawled over and said, "Let me take a look at the door." Clarke moved quickly away without another look at her.

Raven checked the handle, the doorjamb, the area around the door – there was no lock for her to pick. "Something must be jamming the door from the outside," she said, a little frantically now.

Clarke pulled out her phone, thinking she could call someone to come save them.

Then – "Watch out!" Emily yelled, running out of the smoke. She threw a chunk of firewood through the glass pane of the door. It shattered, and the others jumped back in shock.

"Did anyone get cut? Or get glass in their hair?" Emily said, as she used another chunk of wood to sweep the remaining glass in the window frame outside. They all shook their heads, still a little stunned at how Emily was taking charge. "Good," she said, crouching down and cupping her hands. "Well?" she said. "Who's going first?"

"Clarke," said Abby and Raven in unison. Clarke pursed her lips, gathered up her skirt, and stepped into Emily's hands. Emily boosted her through the window, and Clarke quickly got the door of the next car open. "Come on! It's open," she said.

Abby insisted that Raven go next. Then Emily helped Abby through, and Abby reached back to help pull Emily through the hole in the door. Meanwhile, Clarke made a quick sweep of the next car, looking for any other passengers, but it was clear.

When Emily got inside, she slammed the door shut behind her and leaned against it for just a second. Raven nudged Clarke, looking at Emily, and said "Damn, as if she wasn't hot enough already!"

Then she actually jumped as both Griffin women snapped "RAVEN!" in unison.

"Too soon?" muttered Raven.

Now that they were out of immediate danger, Abby composed herself and tried to take control of the situation. "We need to keep moving. Get as far from that car as we can, and get everyone else to move too."

But Clarke was already moving away, heading for the next car, pulling Emily with her. "I'll dial 911," Raven said, pulling out her phone as she and Abby hurried after them.

When they got to a car with people in it, Abby sent Noel Kahn to run up front and tell the conductor to stop the train. Clarke and Emily were urging everyone toward the front of the train, and Raven was looking out the window trying to get a good sense of their location for the 911 dispatcher. "It's a big…smoking…train!" she finally said. "Tell them to find the train that's on fire and put it out!"

Now the train's smoke alarms had been activated, and people were panicking. Emily thought that probably meant that the smoke had spread to the second-to-last car – A would have disabled the smoke detectors in the car they were in.

Then she realized how automatic that thought was. Of course her mind would always go to A. But who else could have done this?

The train started decelerating, and everyone stumbled. Noel must have made it to the conductor, Emily thought.

"All right!" Abby was shouting. "As soon as the train has come to a complete stop, everyone make your way calmly to the nearest exit!"

Emily saw others helping, too – some of the adults and several of the kids who could keep a cool head. She spotted Marcus Kane just standing against a wall, though, and narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. Spencer seemed to have things under control in her area, and she nodded at Emily.

"Hanna?" Ashley Marin was running from group to group. "I'm right here, Mom!" Hanna called. They ran to each other, and Ashley pulled Hanna into a big hug. "Thank God you're okay," Ashley whispered.

The train came to a screeching stop, and everyone made their way off with a minimum of chaos.

The fire department was there within seconds, and they trained their hoses on the last two cars of the train. The rear-most car was completely ablaze now, and Emily shuddered at how close a call that had been.

Everyone from the Halloween Train stood there, a safe distance from the train. It was a surreal image, all those people in their Halloween costumes and the blazing train behind them.

Emily and Clarke huddled together in their bedraggled, smoky princess costumes. Spencer, Aria, and Hanna ran up and hugged Emily, and then Spencer pulled Clarke in too. "Were you guys back there? Are you okay?" Spencer said. "We're fine. We all made it out," said Emily.

"Thanks to Emily," Clarke said quietly. Emily blushed a little as the others looked at her. "She was amazing," Clarke continued. "She's the reason we're all alive."

Emily shrugged and wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist, leaning her head on her shoulder. "I live in Rosewood," she said. "You learn to be pretty good in a crisis." Clarke kissed the top of her head as they watched the steam rise up from the train into the night sky.

"Hey," said Hanna. "Why were you guys back there, anyway?"

"Um…" said Emily, grinning a little despite the situation.

"Wait – so the fire started in the _makeout car?!_ " Hanna exclaimed. "That's just wrong. I am really upset by this."

" _Now_ you're upset?" said Aria dryly. Hanna just shrugged.

"Aria, are you handling this okay?" Spencer said gently.

Aria thought for a minute, then said, "No worse than anyone else. Although I am seriously reconsidering my last-minute decision to attend."

Hanna broke in, "Yeah, our original plan of 'Netflix and chill with Hanna' would have been way better!"

They all looked at her. "Han – do you know what 'Netflix and chill' really means?" Spencer said.

Hanna didn't have a chance to answer because Bellamy ran up right then and swept Spencer up in a huge hug, her feet leaving the ground. He let her back down gently and put his forehead to hers. "Are you okay? You look okay," he stammered.

"I'm fine," Spencer smiled. "How's Octavia?"

"She's good, she's over there with Caleb," Bellamy said. "Actually, I should head back over there. I'm glad you're okay." He kissed Spencer and walked back over to where Octavia and Caleb stood.

Hanna looked around for Lincoln, finally spotting him at the edge of the crowd on his phone, probably trying to get ahold of Lexa. She considered going over there for a minute, but then saw her mom and went over to her instead.

Several ambulances had arrived just behind the fire truck, and the EMTs jumped out to assess injuries. A few people had minor bumps, mostly from the deceleration, but nothing serious. Clarke, Emily, Abby and Raven got a thorough assessment, and even they had nothing worse than some minor smoke inhalation and minor cuts from climbing through the window.

The police were also there, taking everyone's name and writing down what their costumes were. Parents started arriving, and Veronica Hastings was among the first ones there, giving her usual lecture to the police about interviewing minors without their parents present. Pam Fields arrived soon after, gathering both Emily and Clarke into a hug and sobbing with relief. Ella and Byron Montgomery were both out of town, but Ezra showed up and hugged Aria desperately, just like the previous year.

Spencer noticed that the police were talking to Octavia longer than some of the others. Bellamy had a protective arm wrapped around her shoulders, but she didn't seem nervous at all. Spencer wandered closer, trying to overhear.

"…so you're saying that approximately 10 minutes prior to the fire, you saw someone in the last car wearing a black cape?" the officer was asking. Octavia nodded. "Caleb and I were headed back to the main car, and then I decided I wanted to explore a little. I made it as far as the next-to-last car, and it was totally dead back there, so I decided to head back. That's when I saw the black cape in the last car."

"Do you remember any details? Height? Build? Was it a man or a woman?" the officer asked.

"I – I don't remember," Octavia said. Spencer felt a hand on her arm and looked up to see her mother. All Veronica had to do was raise an eyebrow at the police officer, and he quickly shut his notebook and said, "I think that's enough questions for now."

People were starting to disperse once the police had gotten their names. Veronica put her arm around Spencer's shoulders and said, "Let's get you home."

Spencer kissed Bellamy goodbye, nodded to Caleb and Octavia, and then went to get Hanna and her mom since they didn't have a car there. As she approached them, she heard Hanna saying "…so do _you_ know what 'Netflix and chill' means?" and Ashley burst out laughing.

Spencer grinned and said, "Hey, do you guys need a –"

But then she heard Emily say "WHAT?!" in a shocked voice that could only mean something terrible had happened. Emily's friends raced over to her. Clarke and Pam stood protectively near her as Emily put her phone away with shaking hands.

"That…was Paige's dad," she said, looking at the ground. "She's been in the ICU since yesterday. She…she was stabbed."

Pam hugged her, and Clarke stroked gentle patterns against Emily's back, as Emily burst into tears.

Next time: I get to channel my inner Law & Order, because here comes Detective Tanner!


End file.
